Potions Class
by supesaiyan
Summary: Hermione gets placed in an advanced level potions class, but finds a certain classmate a curious mix of helpful and distracting. Fleurmione. Femslash.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: First go at a scenario that had been playing through my head. Thoughts welcome :)**

 **/**

Hermione left McGonagall's office beaming with pride. She had finally been allowed to be placed in the seventh year's potions classes! As much as she loved being the best in the class by miles, she really felt like she wasn't learning much amongst the fourth years. She usually finished her potions in the first five minutes and spent the rest of the class watching Ron and Harry find new ways to irritate Snape.

She already had the seventh years' potions textbook, she had been reading it during her downtime to try and keep stretching her potions knowledge. It was in her bag right now as she happily sped through the halls of Hogwarts to the dungeons for her first class.

Hermione swept her bushy brunette hair away from her face as she picked up the pace. She was already a few minutes late. She loathed being late for class! It was a bad look for the teachers, and she might miss something!

Hermione finally made it to the dungeon, burst the door open and scurried over to a seat as fast as she could. Snape raised an eyebrow before turning back to the class. "As I was saying, with our visiting students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons attending classes, we will be assigning potions partners for the remainder of the year…" Snape curled a lip in disgust before continuing "…for the purposes of _mixing_." Snape's voice sounded repulsed at the idea of an inter-school mixing element to his class. Hermione guessed this was probably more Dumbledore's idea.

"However, this class is not a teen dance, and I will not be allowing you to select your partners. The person you are sitting beside now is your partner for the rest of the year." Snape monotoned.

Hermione suddenly became aware that she had just grabbed a random seat in the room. She turned to see who she was sitting beside. She saw a mane of long silver-blonde hair, a sharp jawline and an icy blue eyed face looking back at her, unimpressed. Hermione sighed as the reality of being paired with the bitchy bombshell Champion from Beauxbatons settled in. ' _She must be at least passable at potions to be selected as a Triwizard Champion,'_ Hermione thought, trying to see the bright side.

"Hi," Hermione said, forcing a friendly smile, "I'm Hermione Granger." Fleur just silently stared at her before looking away again. Hermione's smile dropped off her face. _'Its going to be a longgggg year of potions'_ she thought with dread.

The first lesson went better than Hermione thought it would. They got to try making a complex healing potion that she had read about before. While Fleur was an ice queen, she worked quite well with Hermione, preferring to divide up tasks than work on the same ones together. Hermione found that she could allow herself to get in her potions groove. She followed her set of instructions carefully, fist pumping when she finally managed to squeeze the seed out of a leathery pod. She was on a roll!

The only irritation was the constant interruptions. It seemed every five minutes another boy would approach their table to stare at Fleur or ask her out. Fleur would only let them get through half a sentence before cutting them off with a curt "non." Hermione figured that being a quarter Veela, Fleur probably had the routine down. It was funny, Hermione had always considered that Fleur's haughty pride had something to do with knowing she was attracting so many people, but Fleur just seemed irritated by it right now. She had tied up her white blonde hair and was biting her lip, focussed on the potion at hand.

Eventually the class wound up, Fleur and Hermione's potion resulting in the closest shade and consistency to the one Snape had used as an example. They poured it carefully into a beaker, which Snape swirled slowly before nodding his approval. Hermione was ecstatic. She had been worried that she would not be able to maintain her 'best in class' status when competing with seventh years. Even ice queen Fleur seemed pleased with their result. She flashed Hermione a slight smile before starting to pack up her books and equipment.

Fleur was just closing the buckles on her brown leather satchel bag when a tall, skinny, darkhaired Ravenclaw boy approached. Hermione looked up at him and saw a sheen of nervous sweat glistening on his forehead. His pale, spidery hands were twisting nervously together. "I, uh, I… Fleur, I really, really like you…" he began in a shaky voice. Fleur's head suddenly snapped up and she looked at the boy with narrowed eyes. She let out a cold laugh before simply saying "non."

The boy's face turned a dark red and he backed away from the table muttering an apology. Finally, Hermione blurted out what she had been thinking while watching the scene play out, "you could have been a bit nicer, you know, he was really putting himself out there!"

Fleur turned her icy blue eyes to face Hermione, "He is caught by ze thrall, nothing more." She snatched her bag up and swept out of the room.

 **/**

In Hermione's second advanced potions class, she arrived early. Neatly setting up her equipment and textbook, she watched as students filtered into the class. Fleur glided in with three other Beauxbatons girls in their powder blue, form fitting uniforms and took her seat next to Hermione. Hermione smiled and said hello, but Fleur just flashed a slight smile before looking away.

Today's lesson was making a love potion. Fleur and Hermione divided up the tasks quickly, before getting down to business. They worked even more smoothly together this lesson than the last one. They were interrupted just as they were pouring the solution into a beaker for Snape's examination.

It was a short stocky boy called Jim, from Gryffindor. He had dark hair shaved closely to his wide head, resembling a helmet. He slicked a hand over his hair as he approached Fleur and smoothly placed a cup on the table in front of her. "Hot chocolate for you, Fleur. A hot drink for a hot girl." Jim said with a wink. Fleur rolled her eyes and moved the mug to one side.

"Non."

"Oh, come on! I know its your favourite drink on cold days! I asked around!" Jim said, outraged at the rejection.

"Non." Fleur repeated, more firmly, with a wave of her hand.

Jim stalked away grumpily. Fleur shook her head and reached for the cup to take a swig of the hot chocolate while glaring at Jim's back. She drew the liquid to her lips before recoiling and looking at the cup. It was the potion beaker. "'Ermione!" she gasped. Hermione looked over in horror.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked. Fleur's face softened. "I'm fine, I don't think anything happened," she replied, "it barely touched my lips". Hermione watched her closely for a moment. She appeared normal… They both relaxed and turned back to their table to start tidying up their equipment. Hermione carefully tossed the leftover ingredients into their potions kit. She then picked up a knife, and then reached for a stirrer. As she reached for the stirrer, Fleur did too, and their hands brushed. Hermione looked up and saw Fleur looking at her face. She smiled slowly and looked at Hermione's lips. Hermione pulled the stirrer away and started placing it with the other utensils ' _That was weird_ … _Did I imagine that?'_ But Fleur appeared to act like her normal reserved self as they continued to clear the table and wipe it down.

Snape breezed around the room, observing the finished potions and swirling them in their beakers. He returned to the front of the classroom. "Now, I can see some common mistakes were made in the class…" Snape began, turning to the blackboard to scrawl some notes for the love potion lesson. Hermione opened her book and started taking notes dutifully. She made several annotations to the notes, making additions where Snape had been brief. If the potion hadn't affected Fleur, maybe they had made one of these common mistakes.

Fleur moved her chair closer to Hermione. She was so close that their legs were touching. She leaned over to Hermione, so close that her lips were brushing Hermione's ear. She could smell the intoxicating scent of flowers and vanilla. "'Ermione, would I be able to copy your notes? Zey look very thorough." Hermione felt a slight blush rise in her cheeks. But, she was relieved that Fleur was warming up to her and nodded. Fleur smiled and settled back into her seat. Hermione kept copying down from the blackboard. She looked over at Fleur. Fleur ran a hand through her long white-blonde hair and then stretched back in her chair. As she stretched back, her uniform tightened against her athletic stomach and the curve of her chest. Hermione blushed and turned back to the blackboard.

"…another common mistake is forgetting the rose thorns. These must be chopped up very finely…" Snape intoned, scratching another line onto the blackboard. Ah, chopping the rose thorns, Hermione had just cut them in half once and put them in. She started furiously recording the importance of finely chopping in her book.

Eventually Snape tapered off and the lesson came to a close. Hermione packed away her things and stood up. Fleur stood up at the same time. They were very close, almost pressing against each other. Fleur hadn't moved her chair back away from her before getting up. Hermione froze. "'Ermione, we should study together this week, we work well together." Fleur was staring deeply into Hermione's eyes. Hermione felt a twinge in her stomach and felt her hands go sweaty. Fleur smiled, almost knowingly, and stepped back, before gliding over to Snape to ask him some questions on the lesson.

 _'_ _That was so weird…'_ Hermione thought, _'Was that Fleur being nice or was that a love potion working?'_ Regardless, she was suddenly beginning to understand why people were drawn to Fleur. When she wasn't being a total ice princess, she seemed almost… nice.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that night Hermione was settled into the library, getting some much needed study done. She had been there for about an hour when she found herself getting distracted by people being too loud in the library.

Hermione sighed heavily and glared over her book. Every available table was full of loudly chattering boys, leaning back on chairs and tossing balled up paper at each other. Hermione groaned and let her book drop heavily onto the table.

 _'_ _I mean, why are so many guys here?'_ Hermione wondered, _'They don't even seem to be doing anything!'_

She pondered this as a sudden aroma of vanilla and flowers hit her. Fleur appeared from behind Hermione and sat in the chair next to her, all in one fluid motion.

"Ah, 'Ermione, I assumed you would be here," Fleur drawled, "Shall we study potions?"

Hermione was halfway through her arithmancy homework and sighed heavily.

"Why did you assume I would be here?" Hermione said, a little annoyed at this latest interruption.

"You are often in ze library," Fleur replied simply, before pulling out a textbook and opening it on the table.

Hermione was confused. Did Fleur… watch her?

"'Ermione!" Fleur said impatiently, "Potions study?"

Hermione grumbled and reluctantly put away her arithmancy books, replacing them with her potions ones on the table.

Over the course of the night, they got a lot done. It got late and one by one, the boys sitting around the library gave up gawking at Fleur and left.

Finally, Fleur was the happy with the amount they had covered in Potions.

"Great, so I need to finish my arithmancy work now," Hermione said, pulling her arithmancy books back out again. She figured because it was getting so late, Fleur would pack up and leave. But instead, the French witch set into writing some notes for another class too.

Hermione had to give it to Fleur, she was pretty impressed by her stamina for study. To think all this time she assumed Fleur was a bit of an airhead!

After reading for a short while, Hermione became aware that Fleur was less taking notes and more watching Hermione. In fact, at times she was straight up staring at Hermione, her eyes roaming to Hermione's lips and downwards.

 _'_ _So weird,'_ Hermione thought, again wondering if the love potion had anything to do with this. She knew Fleur would be really embarrassed if a love potion was working on her, so Hermione was determined to ignore it.

Eventually, she stretched and decided to call it a night. She packed away her books and picked up one she had got from a shelf. She ignored Fleur's eyes travelling over her as she stood up from the desk, but as her back turned to Fleur, Hermione blushed slightly.

She finally found the right shelf for the book and slid it in, turning around to be met by some ice blue eyes.

"Woah- Fleur?"

Fleur said nothing but moved forward, her face almost touching Hermione's.

"You look so cute tonight, 'Ermione…" Fleur said softly.

 _'_ _Okay… she is DEFINITELY hitting on me…'_ Hermione thought to herself, feeling her palms get sweaty again.

"Um, I'm straight…" Hermione said, although her stomach was twisting in a way which disagreed with this.

She tried to ignore the rush of excitement running through her as Fleur moved even closer… pushing her against the library shelves. Fleur's body felt amazing… Hermione broke into a blush again.

Fleur gave a knowing smile and moved her lips to Hermione's ear.

"That's a shame, because I'm not."

 _'_ _Oh my GOD, ohmygodohmygodohmygod,'_ Hermione panicked. Who was she kidding? Not even she could resist the sexiness of Fleur Delacour.

Fleur moved to look at Hermione again, her eyes drifting down to Hermione's lips. Her hands moved to Hermione's hips.

Hermione felt herself overcome with desire. Fleur was moving closer, their lips just about to touch, when suddenly Hermione reminded herself of the potion.

 _'_ _If Fleur is just acting under the influence of a potion, she will never forgive me for this!'_ Hermione suddenly thought, and pushed Fleur away from her abruptly.

Fleur's eyes widened with shock.

"Sorry," Hermione gasped, pushing past Fleur and running from the library, stopping only to grab her bag from the desk.

/

Hermione was thankful that she didn't have potions the next day, she was still feeling sheepish about the entire library incident. She couldn't stop replaying the entire thing, _Fleur Delacour_ , of all people, all over _her_! Hermione was overwhelmed. She had always considered herself straight… but she'd never quite felt as excited as when Fleur was about to kiss her.

That day she studied in the Gryffindor common room, so as not to be tempted by Fleur again. Although that night she allowed her thoughts to drift to what could have happened in the library…

/

The next morning, Hermione arrived early for her potions class. Fleur breezed in soon after her, sitting down at the table.

"Hey, Fleur, how's it going?" Hermione asked awkwardly.

Fleur didn't reply.

Snape approached their table as the rest of the class was filtering in.

"Ms. Delacour," Snape intoned, "I can trust you had no bad reactions to the love potion antidote you had after our last class?"

"W-what?" Hermione stuttered.

Snape turned to Hermione, a look of pure dissatisfaction on his face, "Better safe than sorry, Ms. Granger, I thought you of all people would understand that."

With that, Snape turned around and strode to the front of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

_Snape approached their table as the rest of the class was filtering in._

 _"_ _Ms. Delacour," Snape intoned, "I can trust you had no bad reactions to the love potion antidote you had after our last class?"_

 _"_ _W-what?" Hermione stuttered._

 _Snape turned to Hermione, a look of pure dissatisfaction on his face, "Better safe than sorry, Ms. Granger, I thought you of all people would understand that."_

With that, Snape turned around and strode to the front of the room.

"So today will be largely theory based…" Snape said, frowning at the immediate groans. He picked up a stick of chalk and turned to the blackboard to get started.

Hermione sneaked a peek at Fleur, hardly believing that what had happened in the library hadn't been induced by a love potion.

In fact, she could hardly believe that it had happened at all. Fleur had her usual demeanour of half arrogant, half cold today and had already brutally shot down a handsome Ravenclaw as he had merely got up from his seat, about to approach her.

Hermione tugged a hand through her bushy hair nervously. There's no way an absolute goddess like that would be into a little nerd like her. Hermione shook her head and busied herself, taking notes from Snape's monotonous lecture. She was so immersed, she barely heard the scrape of Fleur's chair as she moved to sit closer to her.

Hermione furrowed her brows, trying not to be distracted by the blonde sitting so close to her all of a sudden.

"So… Potions study again tonight, 'Ermione?" Fleur whispered into her ear. Hermione blushed and wrote even more furiously. She could feel Fleur smiling into her ear.

Hermione almost dropped her quill as Fleur placed a hand quietly on Hermione's knee. They were sitting so close that it was devilishly discreet.

 _'_ _What is she doing?'_ Hermione thought to herself.

Fleur's hand started slowly moving up Hermione's thigh. Inching painfully slowly.

 _'_ _Oh my god… is she seducing me? In a CLASS?!'_

Hermione panicked and put her hand on top of Fleur's to stop it, stopping her note-taking momentarily to look at Fleur.

A smile was playing at Fleur's mouth.

"Potions study again tonight?" she repeated.

Hermione let out a long breath, inwardly cringing at how shaky it sounded.

"Fine."

Fleur smiled and withdrew her hand. Hermione found herself smiling back, entirely disarmed by Fleur's radiant smile.

 **/**

"So, you're straight, 'Ermione?" Fleur asked as she sat beside Hermione in the library that night. It was late again and again they were the last ones remaining.

Hermione felt the heat rise to her face, thinking about how much she had thought about their last library incident.

"Erm, I don't think that has anything to do with the Alihosty Draught…" Hermione said awkwardly, turning to the textbook and trying to ignore Fleur's eyes on her.

Hermione shuffled some stacks of notes awkwardly before accidentally knocking over an ink well.

"My notes!" Hermione gasped, standing up suddenly. She started wringing her hands, stressed.

Fleur smiled and stood up, waving her wand at the desk silently. The ink withdrew itself from the books and papers and jumped back into the ink well, rewinding the action that had just happened.

"You are so cute," Fleur muttered softly, moving closer to Hermione.

Hermione blushed, and happily let Fleur put her hands around her waist this time. She just could not resist.

Fleur pulled her in closely and kissed her cheek before brushing her lips against Hermione's ear again. Hermione shivered with the anticipation.

"It's a shame you're straight, 'Ermione…"

She pulled away teasingly, her hands still on Hermione's waist.

"Erm-I-Er-I…" Hermione stuttered, completely flustered by the reality of being in this situation with Fleur again.

Fleur closed in again and softly kissed Hermione's neck. Hermione shut her eyes with pleasure.

"Unless, you're not…?" Fleur whispered, gently kissing Hermione's neck again.

Hermione let out an involuntary moan. She felt Fleur smile against her neck.

"Tell me you want me, 'Ermione…" Fleur sighed, and kissed Hermione's neck a couple more times.

Hermione was drunk on the rush of desire running through her body.

"I-I want you, Fleur," Hermione whispered, her voice shaking.

With that, Fleur pushed Hermione against a nearby bookshelf and planted her lips on Hermione's. Hermione felt what felt like electricity jolting through her body from the softness of Fleur's lips. Hermione kissed back and the kiss deepened, Fleur slipping her tongue into her mouth and running it against Hermione's. Hermione moaned gently. She was aching with desire for Fleur now.

Fleur pulled back and looked Hermione in the eyes. Hermione was panting. Fleur's hands were still on Hermione's waist and her body was still pressed against hers.

A cocky smile spread across Fleur's face. "Not so straight zen, 'Ermione?"

Hermione swallowed heavily, unable to break eye-contact with Fleur.

"So potions study tomorrow night?" Fleur asked, still smiling.

Hermione silently nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So you might have noticed the chapters coming real fast… my girlfriend has been away for a week now so my entire life is ps4 and reading fanfics hahah. Anyway, hope you enjoy my Fleurmione ramblings :)**

Hermione practically floated back to the Gryffindor dormitories that night. She could not believe what had just happened. Fleur? Into _her?!_ Hermione couldn't wipe the smile off her face. She kept thinking about the kiss, and how there were likely to be more.

She fell asleep that night thinking about Fleur kissing her.

The next morning, Hermione work early and met Harry and Ron in the common room to walk down for breakfast. She was still smiling so much even the boys commented on her great mood.

"I've just been getting some great study done…" Hermione murmured, smiling.

As they approached the Great Hall, a flurry of Beauxbatons students were arriving. Hermione tried to seek out Fleur in the crowd. Although she shouldn't have bothered, as within moments, a lanky Hufflepuff boy approached the group with a sheet of paper quivering in his hands. A few of the Beauxbatons girls shifted out of his way, revealing Fleur.

The crowd outside the Great Hall stopped jostling and chatting to watch the scene unfold.

"Erm, I wrote you a poem, Fleur…"

"Oh no…" Harry and Ron mumbled in unison.

"Roses are red, violets are blue…"

Fleur looked coldly at the Hufflepuff and cut him off.

"Please, non."

The Hufflepuff boy looked crestfallen and immediately dashed from the entranceway, in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room.

Harry, Ron and Hermione resumed their wander towards the entrance.

"I mean blimey, _Fleur Delacour!_ As if anyone has a shot with her!" Ron exclaimed.

Hermione felt quietly smug as she remembered Fleur pressing her against the bookshelf in the library, kissing her neck.

As the crowd congested at the doorway into the Great Hall, Hermione could hear Fleur's musical laugh as she chatted to her Beauxbatons friends.

"I mean, approaching me with a poem? Ze British are not even a challenge!" After this, Hermione could not decipher the rest as Fleur switched into French, only speaking the occasional English word.

Hermione frowned. Was that what she was? A challenge for Fleur? She thought back to how cocky Fleur looked when she had got her to admit she wanted her. She thought about Fleur's teasing smiles as she had told Fleur she was straight.

But then, Hermione's mind turned to how good it felt… Maybe being Fleur's challenge wasn't so bad with those benefits? Hermione shook her head.

Hermione didn't have potions today so thankfully didn't have any distractions as she steeled herself not to become a toy for the cold French witch.

 **/**

That night, Fleur didn't appear at the library, which only served to darken Hermione's mood. The silver lining was that she managed to get a large amount of work done for all of her classes, instead of being focussed on Potions for so long like the nights she had studied with Fleur.

She was so engrossed it was almost midnight by the time she finished.

 _'_ _Ah, another exciting Friday night in the life of Hermione Granger,"_ Hermione thought to herself, as she carried a stack of books into the shelves to return. She had put two of them back when she turned around and came face to face with a sultry blonde witch.

"Jesus! Fleur!" Hermione yelped, dropping her books.

Fleur smiled quietly, watching Hermione.

"I thought you were coming to study this evening?" Hermione asked, recovering from the shock.

"Ah, 'Ermione," Fleur said slowly, walking towards Hermione, "I am 'ere aren't I?"

Fleur got close and started running a hand up Hermione's arm. Hermione stood her ground, trying not to give in.

"I 'ave been thinking about you all today…" Fleur murmured. At that, Hermione leaned forward and kissed Fleur, who promptly pulled her into her. She felt Fleur's hands running up her back and her hand made its way to tangle in Fleur's impossibly soft hair. Fleur's tongue made its way into Hermione's mouth again and her hands moved down to Hermione's ass. Hermione was lost in the kiss.

Fleur pulled back and started kissing Hermione's neck, slowly and then more fiercely. Hermione moaned lightly and Fleur's hands made their way to her front, moving downwards until they started pulling at the waistband of Hermione's skirt. At this, Hermione jerked suddenly away and stepped back.

"I'm not going to be your stupid challenge," Hermione said abruptly, surprising even herself.

Fleur was slightly out of breath and looked confused, "What do you mean?"

Hermione's confidence continued, "I don't want to be another notch on your bedpost, Fleur, or some stupid challenge to complete." Part of Hermione's body was still longing to be a notch on Fleur's bedpost, but that was besides the point. Hermione had pride.

"You're not some game to me, 'Ermione…" Fleur said eventually.

"So you weren't just planning on sleeping with me and then never hanging out with me again?" Hermione countered.

Fleur looked sullen and pouted, "But, 'Ermione, I am part Veela, I 'ave needs you know…"

"Ah." Hermione suddenly understood. A wave of disappointment crashed over her. She wasn't sure what she had expected from Fleur, but she certainly wasn't prepared for an admission that she was being used. She shook her head.

Fleur pouted again and attempted to put her arms around Hermione's waist again. Hermione wrenched away, irritated.

"God, you are such a brat, d'you know that Fleur?" Hermione said, bitterness tinging her voice, "You didn't even show up to study like you said you would."

Hermione turned her back to Fleur and stormed out of the library, not looking back.

Hermione's mind raced as she walked back to the dormitory. She was surprised she cared so much.

 _'_ _I guess I really do have a crush on Fleur…'_ she thought to herself.

She stomped up the stairs to the girls dormitory rooms.

 _'_ _Of course, my first crush on a girl would be on a fuckboy,'_ Hermione thought with irritation, _'Really keeping with my brand on that one…'_

/

Over the weekend, Hermione delved even deeper into her studies, avoiding even Harry and Ron. To add salt to the wound she had suffered on Friday, she had two red marks on her neck from Fleur to remind her of what had happened. And despite herself, the sight of them both still made her blush at the memory.

She was seriously considering calling in sick to Monday's potions class to avoid seeing Fleur, but then Hermione couldn't bring herself to actually miss a class.

Eventually, Monday came, and Potions class with it. Hermione arrived early as usual, a scarf around her neck so Fleur wouldn't get the satisfaction of seeing her handiwork. Hermione braced herself for it to be awkward, or worse, for Fleur to be cold with her after calling her a brat.

However, when Fleur breezed in and joined the class, she was perfectly cordial. She greeted Hermione, split the tasks up as usual, and even offered some useful annotations for Hermione's notes.

As the class ended, Hermione got up to leave and Fleur placed a hand on her arm.

"'Ermione, I am sorry about Friday night." Fleur began, and Hermione almost fell over in shock at the proud girl apologising.

"It was selfish of me, I know," Fleur continued, "but I do genuinely enjoy studying with you and 'ope we can go back to being study partners."

Hermione eyed her suspiciously, but Fleur's face looked genuine.

Hermione sighed. It really was hard to resist Fleur after all.

"Okay then."


	5. Chapter 5

Fleur had been confused after Hermione stopped her in the library and snapped at her. She couldn't remember a time that anyone had ever rejected her. The most confusing thing was that she knew Hermione wanted it too. She had seen Hermione in the library soon after her arrival at Hogwarts and been drawn to her. When Hermione had sat next to her in potions, Fleur couldn't help trying to seduce her.

When Hermione stopped things, Fleur had felt sulky at first, but then disappointed. Over the weekend she had spent much of her time in the library, hoping to see her, but with no luck. By the time she saw Hermione in potions for the first time after the incident, Fleur was missing her, and felt her mood lift immediately upon seeing Hermione adorably setting up her books and equipment on their table.

She was glad that Hermione had agreed to go back to studying together, even if Hermione was quite firm that that was all they were to be doing in the library. Fleur was just relieved she was still willing to spend time with her, after she had almost ruined things with her overwhelming desire to sleep with Hermione.

Fleur looked down at her potions notes approvingly. She had always been good at school, but since studying with Hermione, her work had improved even more. Fleur smiled and looked across the library desk at Hermione, who was deep in thought and had a furrowed brow. A strand of hair had fallen across her face. Fleur bit her lip as she thought about pushing it back behind Hermione's ear, but she behaved.

Hermione sighed and looked up, catching Fleur looking at her. A blush appeared on Hermione's face and Fleur felt herself swoon inwardly.

"This is nice," Hermione said, smiling.

Fleur felt her stomach flip, Hermione enjoyed spending time with her too!

 **/**

Over the next couple of weeks, Hermione was surprised. Though Fleur still looked at her like she wanted to do more, she was very well-behaved. In fact, she started spending more time with Hermione outside of late nights at the library. It wasn't out of place for Hermione to leave a class and find the French witch waiting patiently outside for her, a pumpkin juice in hand. She still had her same cold, haughty resting face, but it would lighten up as soon as she saw Hermione.

Hermione started wondering if Fleur was developing actual feelings for her, but pushed it from her mind in disbelief. She was still convinced that Fleur had simply changed tack from seeing Hermione as a plaything to seeing her just as a friend.

She was exiting her Transfiguration class with Ron and Harry when she saw the familiar sight of Fleur waiting for her.

Fleur smiled and approached her, "'Ermione, I know you like zese," and gave her a bonbon wrapped in tissue paper.

Ron looked hungrily at the bonbon, "Cripes, you have her whipped!" he exclaimed.

To all of their surprise, Fleur blushed at this.

"Ah, so I will see you tonight for study?" Fleur said, and breezed away again.

Hermione looked at the two boys, whose eyebrows were raised.

"Is it just me… or does it seem like Fleur has a giant crush on you…?" Harry asked, incredulous. Ron turned purple at the thought.

"Ridiculous, Harry, we just study together, we're friends" Hermione said sharply, although she felt a smile grow on her face despite herself.

/

That night, Hermione arrived at the library and Fleur was already there waiting for her as usual. She looked radiant.

Hermione sat down and watched as Fleur lit up. Hermione felt smug in spite of herself. She had come a long way from helplessly stuttering as Fleur sat closely to her.

"So, shall we continue with ze flashcards?" Fleur said happily.

"Sure," Hermione said, setting her things out on the desk and locating the bundle of flashcards they had made the previous week.

"Okay," Hermione said, selecting a card, "What is bezoar?"

"A common ingredient in potions, it is often used for antidotes," Fleur said, leaning her face on one hand and gazing at Hermione.

"Do you like me?" Hermione asked.

Fleur raised her head back up, her eyes widening slightly, looking flustered.

She paused before responding carefully, "Well, of course, I like to believe we are friends now…"

Hermione smiled, "you know what I mean, Fleur."

Fleur blushed heavily and she looked down, she was thrown by the sudden shift in power.

Hermione placed a hand on top of Fleur's on the table and Fleur met her eyes once more.

"Tell me that you like me, Fleur"

Fleur's mouth fell open, she had never been in this situation before. She looked carefully at Hermione. Hermione had a triumphant smile.

"I like you Hermione…" Fleur admitted finally, helplessly.

"You don't just want to sleep with me?" Hermione asked, her smugness apparent on her face now.

"No, I really like you," Fleur said, turning her hand over underneath Hermione's to hold hands.

"Good," Hermione said, and Fleur's face lit up again. She was looking so sweetly at her that Hermione felt a little bad for what she was about to say.

"Okay, so maybe if you can get twenty of these flashcards right in a row, and come up with five new ones to add to the deck, you might get a kiss." Hermione said, smiling as Fleur blushed. She could see the desire in Fleur's eyes.

Fleur picked up the flashcards and pushed them into Hermione's hands.


	6. Chapter 6

It took a while, but finally Fleur got twenty flashcards correct in a row and scrawled five new cards in her looping cursive writing. She smiled at Hermione expectantly as they packed their things up.

"I did say, _might_ get a kiss, Fleur," said Hermione, pulling her bag onto her shoulder.

Fleur couldn't hide the disappointment from her face. She pouted as they walked to the exit of the library and out to the hallway. It was late and she yawned, it had been a long day.

"You did do some good work on those flash cards though," Hermione said, taking Fleur's hand.

She leaned in and kissed Fleur softly on the lips before drawing back. Fleur broke into a smile.

"Goodnight, Fleur," Hermione smiled, and turned to walk back to the Gryffindor dormitories.

/

The next morning Malfoy sneered as Graham Montague skulked back to the Slytherin dining table to jeers and laughs. Montague had just approached Fleur Delacour with a flower in his hand before being brutally rejected.

If there was one thing Malfoy loved, it was watching a public slapdown. He laughed as Montague sat back down at the table, avoiding looking at anyone. Malfoy couldn't believe Montague had even tried, it was laughable that an average joe like Montague could score the most beautiful witch around.

Malfoy looked down the table, Crabbe and Goyle were staring mesmerised at Fleur. Even Pansy seemed to be sneaking peeks at Fleur from over her goblet of pumpkin juice. Malfoy shuffled arrogantly in his seat, before clearing his throat to get their attention.

"I'm going to get a date with her," Draco boasted, smoothing his blonde hair over his head, "I'm going to be the one to score a date with Fleur Delacour."

/

Later that day, Hermione was leaving arithmancy and smiled as she saw Fleur waiting outside the class for her. She frowned as she noticed Malfoy leaning against the wall next to her. He looked surprised to see Hermione approaching.

"Granger?! You're waiting for _Granger?_ " he exclaimed incredulously at Fleur. She ran a hand through her silver-blonde locks and ignored Malfoy, smiling at Hermione. She moved forward to meet Hermione, when Malfoy put a hand on her arm, holding her back.

The crowd milling through the halls stalled, watching the situation play out.

Fleur turned and fixed Malfoy with an icy look.

"You know she's nothing but a mudblood, right?" Malfoy said, sneering at Hermione, "Don't waste your time hanging with Granger, come with me for a drink."

If Fleur's look was icy before, it just turned sub-zero. Hermione didn't think she had ever seen Fleur look so angry.

The students in the hallway fell silent at the word Malfoy had just called Hermione.

"Va te faire enculer," Fleur muttered angrily and pulled out her wand, flicking it at Malfoy suddenly.

There was a fantastic cloud of gold sparks that engulfed Malfoy, before shimmering and fading, revealing a small piglet standing where Malfoy had been standing mere minutes before.

"Fleur!" Hermione exclaimed.

"'E is nicer this way," Fleur smirked, "and will probably get more attention from ze girls like zis."

Right on cue, a gaggle of Hufflepuff second years pushed through the crowd cooing. "Awwwww! A little baby piglet!" One of them scooped up little Malfoy and they scurried off.

Hermione took Fleur by the hand and dragged her through the crowd, before finding an empty classroom and pulling them in, shutting the door behind them.

Fleur looked both apologetic. "I am sorry, 'Ermione, I couldn't help myself," Fleur started guiltily. She was interrupted by Hermione kissing her. Her eyes widened in surprise before she returned the kiss, deepening it. They finally pulled apart, breathless.

"You know, its pretty hot when you get angry," Hermione said, smirking at Fleur. Fleur blushed, moving her hands to Hermione's waist. She started closing in to Hermione again, but Hermione pushed her back. Fleur pouted, but let Hermione push her back into a chair.

Next thing she knew, Hermione was straddling her on the chair, their faces almost touching. Fleur's breathing was becoming uneven and her hands travelled to Hermione's thighs. She leaned in to kiss Hermione, but was stopped by Hermione placing a finger on her lips.

"No…" Hermione said softly, a smile teasing at her lips. She leaned in to whisper in Fleur's ear, "not until you tell me you want me…" She felt Fleur wriggle underneath her with frustration.

"'Ermione…" Fleur whimpered softly.

"Not until you say it," Hermione said smugly, starting to kiss Fleur's neck. Fleur's breathing was getting more uneven . Hermione kissed up her neck, before kissing Fleur's earlobe, sucking on it and then tugging on it lightly.

"I want you, 'Ermione, please" Fleur moaned. Hermione smiled and kissed along Fleur's perfect jawline before making her way to her lips. They started passionately kissing, and Fleur stood up, lifting Hermione up and pushing her onto a desk. Their kiss deepened and Hermione felt Fleurs hands creep to her shirt buttons and start to unfasten them, only this time, Hermione didn't mind. She returned the favour and started pulling off Fleurs shirt too, before hopping off the desk and pushing Fleur against a wall. She could feel Fleur trembling with desire, clad only in her uniform skirt and a lacy bra. Hermione smiled, slowing down to painstakingly slow kisses down Fleur's neck and down her chest. Her hand touched Fleur's thigh and started running up it, up under her skirt. Fleur's breath hitched in her throat.

Suddenly the door opened with a bang and Malfoy strode in, pale with anger, "fucking Granger!" he cursed before stopping dead in his tracks and taking in what was happening.

Hermione leapt away from Fleur and grabbed the nearest shirt to cover herself. Fleur was still catching her breath, the pink-red of marks from Hermione's biting kisses already appearing on her chest.

"Oh my…" Malfoy said cockily, folding his hands over his chest, "…and what exactly do you call this, Granger?"

Hermione glared at him angrily.

"What do you think Potter and _Weasel_ would have to say about you banging Potter's competition for the Triwizard tournament?" Malfoy said, sneering.

"You wouldn't, Malfoy," Hermione said, although she knew it was exactly the kind of thing he would maliciously spread around the castle.

Malfoy, tapped his fingers against his mouth, making a big show of considering it. Hermione and Fleur hurriedly put their shirts back on.

"You know, I might not tell the school that you're giving the Beauxbatons champion a few… hidden benefits," Malfoy smirked, "if you were to do something for me."

Fleur frowned angrily. Hermione sighed, "what is it, Malfoy?"

He smiled cockily before answering.

"I want a date with Fleur."

Fleur snorted before fixing Malfoy with a contemptuous smile.

"If you have learnt one zing today, it should be that I have no interest in you," she said coldly.

"Yes, well, that doesn't matter," Malfoy said dismissively, "I want to ask you on a date in the Great Hall and for you to accept in front of everyone. Then I want you on my arm, on a date. That's all."

"That's all?"

Malfoy laughed, "Just don't blame me if we become the school's next favourite couple…" and arrogantly swept out of the room.


	7. Chapter 7

"Oh my god, this is gonna be good," Ron chuckled through a mouthful of hashbrowns and elbowing Harry. Harry and Hermione looked up from their breakfasts to see Malfoy swaggering across the Great Hall and over to the Ravenclaw table. He came to a stop beside Fleur and looked around the room, catching Hermione's eye as she watched on from the Gryffindor table and winking at her. Hermione plunged her fork into a hashbrown violently.

Malfoy smirked before clearing his throat.

"I've seen you checking me out, Delacour, I know you have the hots for me."

Fleur's face twisted into a look of disgust and Hermione twisted her fork harder into her hashbrown.

Malfoy flashed a smile and ran a hand over his swept back hair, "so what say you? Will you go on a date with me?"

Ron and Harry's mouths were hanging open, waiting for the inevitable rejection.

Fleur glanced over at Hermione. Hermione shut her eyes with dread and gave a very slight nod.

"Oui," Fleur replied in a deadpan voice.

Malfoy turned around, lifting his arms in the air, to face the Slytherin table. The table erupted into cheers.

"No way!" Ron spluttered.

Hermione threw her fork loudly on the platter of bacon in the middle of the breakfast table, "If there's any justice that would be Malfoy sliced up on there," she muttered darkly.

Harry nodded, taking consolation that at least his friends found Malfoy as intolerable as him, "yeah."

/

Hermione sat down next to Fleur in potions after breakfast. Fleur was pouting.

"I feel zat Malfoy has more than got me back for turning him into a piglet," she whined, "do I really 'ave to go on ze date with 'im?"

Hermione touched Fleur's arm, "I'm sorry, I just really don't want to get into a big thing with Harry and Ron about this. They already got into a huge fight just over Harry having his name get into the goblet of fire… this would be a million times worse, especially with how Malfoy would paint it."

Fleur groaned and yanked her books out of her bag sulkily.

Hermione shuffled her chair closer to Fleur and reached under the table, holding Fleur's hand. Fleur smiled.

"Its just unfair, I 'aven't even been on a date with you yet," Fleur said, pouting again.

Snape was scratching the day's task on the blackboard at the front of the classroom.

"If we nail this potion, I'll think about it," Hermione said cheekily, leafing to the appropriate page and starting to circle tasks they could split.

/

After dinner, Hermione met Fleur in the library as usual and they settled in for the evening's study.

Fleur was writing up an essay for transfiguration and Hermione was marking pages down in her arithmancy textbook for future reference when they were suddenly interrupted by someone sitting heavily in a chair at their table.

"Hey, babe, excited for our date?" Malfoy smirked leaning back on his chair.

Fleur looked up from her essay to glare at him.

"Malfoy, don't you have better things to do…" Hermione groaned, looking up from her textbook.

"What's wrong Granger? Anyone would say you're jealous."

Hermione glared at him too, conscious that the library was fairly crowded and anyone could overhear. Malfoy chuckled smugly and moved to put an arm around Fleur.

"Don't you think we look like a good couple, Granger?"

"You look like her weird ugly cousin," Hermione said, irritated.

Malfoy looked from Hermione to Fleur before laughing at their annoyed faces.

"Boy, this is the gift that keeps on giving!"

He stood up finally and with one sweeping motion, kissed Fleur on the cheek and swaggered out of the library again.

Fleur shuddered as Malfoy left and looked sulky again.

Hermione sighed heavily, "you know what, I can't study anymore, that absolute git has ruined my concentration." She packed up her books.

Fleur pouted, "But zis is when I usually spend actual time with you! Will you at least walk me back to ze Beauxbatons carriage?"

Hermione smiled, Fleur looked so sulky that she Hermione found herself nodding. She waited for Fleur to pack up her things before walking out of the library. They walked in a silence through the Hogwarts hallways before stepping into the dark grounds. Hermione took Fleur's hand,

"I'm sorry about the Malfoy thing," Hermione said.

Fleur beamed at walking through the grounds holding hands with Hermione, her sulkiness already forgotten. They stepped onto the Beauxbatons carriage, which predictably was magically expanded within.

The inside of the carriage was an ornate hallway with detailed white wooden doors. Hermione walked with Fleur to the end of the hallway, where Fleur muttered something in French and the door sprang open.

Fleur's room was massive. She had a king sized bed with a canopy, a large wooden wardrobe, a wooden set of drawers, a couple of armchairs with a small side table, and a desk.

"Wow, you really get what you pay for with Beauxbatons," Hermione murmured, looking around. How unbelievable that even Beauxbatons' travelling accommodation was far nicer than the Hogwarts dorms.

Fleur placed her bag down on one of the armchairs before turning to Hermione.

"Were you actually jealous?" she asked softly, her eyes dark as she gazed at Hermione.

"Of what?" Hermione said, playing dumb. She didn't want to admit how much she had wanted to rip Malfoy's limbs off his body when he kissed Fleur on the cheek.

Fleur walked over to Hermione and put her hands around her waist.

"I really like you, 'Ermione," she said, looking sweetly at her, "Will you go on a date with me?"

Hermione looked silently back at Fleur.

"It doesn't 'ave to be a big deal, we could go for a trip to 'Ogsmeade," Fleur added nervously.

Hermione kissed Fleur gently, "Yes," she said, smiling.

"Anyway, I should be heading back to the castle, I should probably have an early night"

Fleur nodded and turned away, "me too," she said, suddenly pulling her uniform off.

Hermione froze, transfixed.

Fleur took off her shirt, shirt and shoes and socks. She was standing, back to Hermione, just in her lingerie. Hermione's eyes roamed over Fleur's flawless body. Fleur undid her bra and then wandered to over to the drawers, pulled out a t-shirt and put it on. She turned around and walked back to Hermione.

"Well, goodnight," Fleur said, kissing Hermione softly on the cheek.

"You are a cruel woman, Fleur Delacour," Hermione replied, and Fleur giggled. Hermione pulled Fleur into an embrace and kissed her deeply. Fleur was smiling when the kiss finished and she was left standing in Hermione's arms.

"Stay," she begged.

Hermione smirked, "hm, depends what else you have to offer, Delacour…"

Fleur promptly pulled the t-shirt off again and dropped it on the floor.

Hermione's eyes widened and roamed down Fleur, a pang of desire jolting through her.

The next thing Hermione knew, she was settling into Fleur's bed, clad only in her underwear, although she was blushing at being in such a state in front of Fleur. Fleur had an arm around Hermione and they were cuddling.

As Fleur sighed happily, Hermione suddenly realised she may have lost her upper hand. A devilish smile suddenly appeared on her face and she started kissing Fleur's neck. Fleur pulled her closer and Hermione started kissing down Fleur's chest. Fleur gasped as Hermione teased her nipples with her tongue. She paused as Fleur squirmed under her and started kissing down Fleur's toned stomach. She reached the waistband of Fleur's underwear and pulled at the waistband teasingly, kissing at Fleur's hips. Fleur moaned with longing and squirmed some more, but Hermione returned upwards to kiss Fleur on the lips.

Fleur looked uncomfortable, "'Ermione, you tease me…" she whined, her voice shaking. She moved slightly on to her side to kiss Hermione deeply, and Hermione's hands ran down Fleur's bare back and down to her ass.

"'Ermione, please…" Fleur continued.

Hermione smirked, "tell me what you want, Fleur…" she said teasingly.

"'Ermione, I want you to fuck me…"

/

The next morning Hermione awoke to the sun streaming in through the window onto Fleur's bed. She stretched and looked beside her at the naked blonde French witch sleeping quietly. A thrill of happiness ran through her and she kissed Fleur's forehead before getting up and getting changed.

/

"Wow, Hermione, you look kind of, well, kind of like me today," Ron said at breakfast, eying up Hermione's crumpled uniform and untucked shirt.

"Finally giving up on being the teacher's pet today?" he added, loading some more toast into his mouth.

"Shut up, Ronald, I just studied late last night."

"Ginny says you didn't come back to the dormitory last night," Harry said suddenly, buttering a piece of toast.

"Wait, what?" Ron said suddenly, "You didn't come back last night Hermione?"

Hermione held her breath, dreading what was about to come next.

Ron's eyes narrowed, "wait, when did you see Ginny between last night and this morning?" he suddenly asked Harry.

Harry looked guilty and attempted to change the subject.

"Now wait just a minute, mate!" Ron said, knocking over his orange juice.

Hermione grabbed a scone and took the opportunity to slip away from the Great Hall.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hi all, appreciate the lovely comments! Enjoy :)**

That day Hermione found it near impossible to concentrate in class. Her normally essay-like notes were reduced to short sentences and vague bullet points. A blush kept rising in her face as she remembered the feeling of Fleur arching her back beneath her as her fingers ran across her before slipping inside her. She didn't even answer a question all day, flustered with the memory of Fleur moaning her name and shuddering, of Fleur clambering into her arms after she had finished. She hadn't let Fleur do anything back for her, instead running her hand through Fleur's silky soft hair until they fell asleep together.

After each of her classes, Fleur was patiently waiting again, beaming even more at her than usual. However, after her fourth class of the day, Hermione left to find Fleur waiting outside looking irritated.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked her, as they walked through the hallways.

"Zat Malfoy boy 'as asked me to accompany 'im to 'Ogsmeade tonight on a date," Fleur said with a look of disgust on her face.

Hermione frowned as they arrived outside her Transfiguration classroom. Fleur looked at Hermione's face carefully.

"Are you jealous, 'Ermione?" Fleur said, a smile playing at her face.

Before she could answer, Ron and Harry arrived.

"I'll see you later Fleur," Hermione said, joining the boys.

They walked into the classroom with a throng of other classmates.

"So you and Fleur are pretty good mates now," Ron said conversationally, throwing himself into a seat.

"Yeah," Hermione said, willing herself not to blush, "We have potions together so became study buddies"

"Well, as long as you aren't telling your _bud_ anything about Harry's strategy for the first challenge," Ron said, disgruntled.

Hermione, sighed heavily, predicting the entire conversation she had wanted to avoid in the first place.

"Ronald, nobody even knows what the first challenge is yet, and even if they did, you know how I feel about cheating."

Ron nodded, apparently appeased by this comment, before his attention shifted.

"So how exactly did you and Ginny both happen to be going for a morning stroll at the same time, Harry?"

McGonagall strode into the room, silencing Ron and Harry for a moment.

As McGonagall turned to write the lesson plan on the blackboard, Hermione whispered to the boys, "Shall we go to Hogsmeade tonight?"

The boys nodded as McGonagall turned back to the class.

/

After their class, the trio headed down to Hogsmeade. They lasted a trip to Honeydukes before Harry and Ron started squabbling again.

"I mean, I'm just saying, I've known Ginny her whole life and known you for years and I have never known either of you to go for _morning strolls,_ " Ron said accusatorily as they walked towards the Three Broomsticks.

"God, Ron, since when have you been noting everyone's habits?" Harry said defensively.

They were interrupted by Malfoy and Fleur exiting the Three Broomsticks, Fleur looking miserable.

Harry and Ron didn't appear to notice as they continued to squabble.

"Hey Granger," Malfoy smirked, putting an arm around Fleur, "Do you think Fleur puts out after dates?"

Hermione felt a white hot flash of rage and with a swift movement punched Malfoy in the jaw.

Harry and Ron immediately stopped arguing, their mouths dropping open. Fleur stifled a laugh.

"Damn, 'Mione, again?" Ron exclaimed, "What'd the prat do now?"

Hermione shook her head and the two boys laughed, clapping a hand on a shoulder each. As they stepped over a spluttering Malfoy on the ground, Hermione turned and smiled at Fleur.

"Study tonight?"

/

The trio had made it back for dinner and were still laughing about the look on Malfoy's face as they shuffled into the Great Hall. The crowd jostled heavily trying to get in for the meal at the same time. Hermione leaned and pushed against some Slytherins, shoulder to shoulder with Pansy.

"Didn't know you had it in you, Granger," Pansy sneered.

"He had it coming," Hermione retorted, trying to push through the crowd and back to the boys. Three schools on campus was really too many. They should use an enlargement charm on the Great Hall, Hermione thought irritably.

"Not that," Pansy snickered, "Convincing the Beauxbatons champion to stoop as low as getting with you,"

Hermione darkened. Malfoy had told! That absolute prat.

The crowd suddenly surged forward and Hermione caught back up with the boys, before marching to the Gryffindor table and sitting down.

She looked up and saw Fleur happily chattering in French to some Beauxbatons at the Ravenclaw table. Her gaze moved past Fleur to the Slytherin table, where Malfoy was smirking and whispering into Crabbe's ear. They were all gesturing towards Fleur.

Hermione looked down at her plate, suddenly not hungry. It wasn't fair. Until recently she hadn't even known she was into girls herself, and now Slytherin were about to gossip about her most private moments to everyone.

She sat silently for much of the meal, Ron eating more than enough to compensate for both his portion and Hermione's.

Finally, she stood up.

Ron and Harry looked at her, confused. Hermione let out a long, shaky breath.

She started walking slowly across the hall, her palms starting to sweat with nerves. She felt the hall quieten a little to a gossipy buzz as people curiously watched where she was going. She approached the Ravenclaw table slowly, eventually coming to a stop beside Fleur and her friends.

Fleur turned to face Hermione, smiling but confused.

"Fleur…" Hermione started slowly, suddenly terrified of what she was about to say in front of a roomful of people, "Will you go out with me?"

The room erupted into a frenzy of gossipy muttering and whispers, people's heads wrenching around to see how Fleur would respond to this latest outrageous proposal.

Fleur looked Hermione in the eyes, still smiling, and stood up from the Ravenclaw table. She stepped closely to Hermione and leaned in to swiftly kiss her. Hermione pulled back, blushing heavily as Fleur took her hand.

"Oui."

Hermione walked back to the Gryffindor table, feeling giddy. She was aware of the eyes watching her as she walked back across the room. She sat down next to Harry and Ron again. Harry's mouth was hanging open and Ron was a fantastic shade of purple.

Hermione braced herself for the reaction.

"Hermione, you could've bloody told us!" Harry suddenly blurted.

Ron made a faint gurgling noise.

"I… didn't even really know myself that I felt that way until recently…" Hermione admitted, still blushing.

"I knew she had a crush on you," Harry said, cracking into a smile, "Nobody waits outside class for a study buddy that much!"

Hermione smiled, "I wasn't really sure how you would react…" she started.

"Okay well if Hermione wasn't actually studying in the library with Fleur then you DEFINITELY weren't on a morning walk with Ginny," Ron exclaimed suddenly, the colour returning to his face.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hi all! Thanks for all the reviews, its very encouraging :) Today is NYE and my girlfriend came back from her trip so… It might take me a little while to update after this, hahah. But rest assured I will be enjoying myself and will be back to get some Fleurmione out of my system in no time.**

When Hermione made it back to the common room after dinner she was met by a lot of stares. She ignored it and went up the spiral staircase to the girl's dormitories to collect some books for study.

While picking up some books, a familiar redhead approached her.

"Hey, Gin. What's up?" Hermione asked, a little distracted as she tried to decide which textbook to take.

"…Fleur?" Ginny asked in disbelief.

Hermione looked up from her books, suddenly nervous, "Yeah."

"I just… I just don't know how I feel about that…" Ginny said finally.

Hermione looked worried and set her books down on her bed, "Gin, do you have a problem with me dating Fleur?"

Ginny shifted uncomfortably. "I mean, we've all kissed a girl once when we've been drunk, just to see what its been like," she said, not looking at Hermione, "but more? Dating? I don't know, there's something a bit weird about that."

Hermione felt a pang of sadness mixed with annoyance, "No weirder than getting off with one of your friends behind everyone's back and then trying to pass it off as a morning stroll," she snapped at Ginny.

Ginny looked hurt, before her face moved to anger, "Seriously Hermione? You're the one asking Harry's opponent out on a date!"

At that Hermione, swiftly picked up both textbooks from her bed, grabbed her bag and swept out of the dormitory rooms.

She was still fuming when she sat down at her usual desk in the library with Fleur.

"'Ermione, is something wrong?" Fleur said, placing a hand on hers.

"Ginny is just being a git… I really don't want to have to deal with her tonight," Hermione grumbled.

"Ah, well you are more zan welcome to stay with me again," Fleur offered, a coy smile playing on her lips. Hermione blushed and smiled, every thought of Ginny suddenly pushed from her mind.

She leaned forward and gave Fleur a light kiss on the lips.

"The upside is at least I get to do this openly whenever I want," she said, smiling.

Hermione looked around, although there were certainly some guys staring at Fleur from over their books, it wasn't as dominated by drooling boys as it was before. She smirked.

"And I guess this means that now we won't be getting interrupted as much by boys asking you out."

At that, Hermione was interrupted by Lavender walking up to their table.

"Uh, Lavender, is something wrong?" Hermione asked, curious.

"Erm, actually, I was hoping to talk to Fleur…" Lavender said, blushing heavily. She turned to Fleur, "Would you maybe want to go out one night?"

"For fuck's sake!" Hermione suddenly erupted. Lavender jumped and hastily made an exit. Fleur turned back to Hermione and smiled.

"I like it when you get all jealous and protective," Fleur said, her eyes somehow looking a little darker. She moved closer to Hermione.

Eventually, Hermione and Fleur actually got down to studying and they settled into an easy rhythm of working through their tasks for the night. Fleur was just leaning back to stretch when a nasty voice rang out from across the library.

"What d'ya reckon?" Pansy giggled, sitting at a table of Slytherins.

"Love potion? Imperius curse?" the Slytherins sniggered.

"Oh," Pansy smirked, "or maybe its just Weasley using some Polyjuice Potion to look like Fleur,"

Fleur immediately narrowed her eyes and shot an icy look in the direction of the Slytherin table. Hermione put her hand on Fleur's quickly lest Pansy be turned into a piglet too.

"Its okay," Hermione said, "The Slytherins are always dicks, they're probably just mad at me for hitting Malfoy"

Fleur smiled at Hermione and leaned in to kiss her.

"How about I walk you back to your room?" Hermione said, starting to pack up her things. Fleur grinned hopefully. Hermione swatted her with a laugh.

They strode past the Slytherins holding hands. Pansy looked irritated that her jibes had not got a reaction.

Eventually they got to Fleur's room. Fleur tugged on Hermione's hand, "stay here tonight," she said quietly, "I liked sharing my bed with you last night."

Hermione shook her head. "I should go… I was going to get a good sleep so I could get up early and get a head-start on my study tomorrow."

Fleur smiled, "we can just sleep, I can be'ave you know." Hermione smirked and gave in.

Fleur went across her room and pulled out an oversized t-shirt from her drawers and gave it to Hermione.

"No shorts or pants?" Hermione asked, turning around to change.

"Hmm, not with that view…" Fleur smirked, staring at Hermione's ass.

"Hey, behave!" Hermione laughed.

She finished getting changed, turned back around and Fleur was already under the covers, settling in with her back to Hermione.

"Oh, you are being good," Hermione laughed, climbing in to bed. Fleur muttered something in French and the lamps promptly went out.

Hermione lay on her back for a while, trying to settle. Eventually she found herself creeping over to Fleur's side of the bed to spoon her.

"Hey!" Hermione muttered. Fleur was naked under the covers.

Fleur made a sleepy noise and Hermione wrapped herself around her to cuddle her. But Fleur's nakedness was distracting. Hermione buried her face into Fleur's neck. It smelt like vanilla and flowers. She kissed her neck softly, and kept kissing. Her hand ran up Fleur's thigh to her ass. Fleur gave a heavy sigh, definitely awake now. Hermione nipped Fleur's neck playfully and Fleur rolled over to face Hermione, her eyes dark with desire.

Fleur kissed her deeply and started grinding against Hermione, tugging at the shirt Hermione was wearing. Hermione ran her hands all over Fleur's perfect body, moaning with delight. She let Fleur pull her shirt off her and Fleur pushed her heavily onto her back, pinning her down by her wrists. Hermione looked up into Fleur's eyes, incredibly turned on now, and Fleur let her go, dipping down to kiss Hermione again. Her tongue slipped back into Hermione's mouth and she grinded on her again. Hermione let out another involuntary moan as Fleur moved down her body, kissing her neck, then her chest, licking and sucking on her nipples. She then moved down Hermione's stomach.

Hermione's looked down in pleasure filled disbelief as she felt Fleur kiss down her body, her long silver-blonde hair trailing down Hermione's body after her. She made it down to Hermione's hip bones then moved to kiss teasingly up her thighs. Hermione moaned even louder, her breath starting to hitch in her throat. Eventually Fleur made it up her thighs and started making long licks up Hermione's pussy, before finding her clit and speeding up. Hermione's back arched and she reached down, tangling a hand in Fleur's hair and pulling her closer. Hermione had never felt this before, it was like lightning was striking her and coursing throughout her body. Suddenly there was a mind-blowing rush through her system and she shuddered as a feeling of immense happiness spread through her.

Fleur reappeared by Hermione's face, running her hand through her hair and looking pleased with herself. They kissed and Fleur nestled her head onto Hermione's chest and arm across her stomach, Hermione putting an arm around her.

/

The next morning Hermione awoke to late morning sun shining on her face. She sat upright and scrabbled for her watch on the bedside table. It read 11.23am.

"Jesus Fleur, you couldn't have woken me up?" Hermione exclaimed, turning to look at the blonde sitting up in bed next to her.

Fleur was silently reading a letter, an owl waiting patiently on her windowsill. Her face was quite pale.

"Fleur? What is it?"

Fleur looked over at Hermione, a look of worry spread across her face.

"Its ze first challenge."


	10. Chapter 10

The letter didn't say anything about what the challenge was, just the time and date of the challenge.

"You'll be fine, Fleur," Hermione said soothingly, kissing Fleur on the cheek.

Fleur smiled at Hermione, before looking back at the letter, "Hm, I should let Madame Maxime know…" she pulled the covers off herself and got up from the bed. She crossed the room and opened the wardrobe.

Hermione couldn't stop staring at Fleur's incredible naked body. She couldn't believe that she was in the bed of _Fleur Delacour_ watching her walk around her room naked. Fleur flipped her silver-blonde hair over one shoulder and held up two different outfits, trying to decide between the two.

"How did I end up here…" Hermione murmured, and Fleur turned around with concern.

Fleur watched as Hermione's eyes roamed down her body and smirked.

"Didn't you say you wanted to get an 'ead start on your study, 'Ermione?" Fleur asked teasingly.

"I think that was a little sabotaged when some other head started last night…" Hermione said, and Fleur smiled devilishly.

"Well, I must get to Madame Maxime and you must get to the library," Fleur said, turning back to her wardrobe.

"Fleur, get here now…" Hermione said, her voice a little husky with desire.

/

Two hours later, Fleur finally made it to Madame Maxime, clutching the letter about the first task.

Maxime greeted Fleur in French.

"Actually, Madame, I would prefer if we conversed in English, I am trying to better my skills in it," Fleur replied.

Maxime narrowed her eyes, "Zat is unlike you, Fleur. Your English is fine."

"I want to get good enough zat I can convey everything exactly as I think in French," Fleur said, handing Maxime the letter.

Maxime read the letter, her brow furrowing, and nodded sternly.

"Well, Fleur, zis is what we 'ave been preparing for," she said seriously, "I will do some recon to try and discover what ze challenge involves,"

Fleur nodded.

"And you, Fleur," Maxime added sternly, "I do not know who you are interested in, but you need to focus on ze tournament."

Fleur was silent.

"I am serious, Fleur," Maxime added, "Failure is not an option."

Maxime suddenly noticed the red marks on Fleur's neck that were a result of her morning romp with Hermione. She launched into a tirade of a lecture.

"Fleur, you 'ave been chosen as ze representative of zis school! You cannot embarrass us all by failing ze competition because you could not keep it in your pants! What would your parents say?"

Fleur stood her ground, calmly listening as Maxime continued the tirade, before finally sounding like she was going to calm down.

"Okay, Fleur," Maxime said, lowering her voice and smoothing her skirt out, "I 'ave a date with 'Agrid tonight to discuss ze first challenge and what it will be. I suggest you spend ze day seriously considering ze importance of zis competition and 'ow it reflects on Beauxbatons."

Maxime nodded gravely, dismissing Fleur.

Fleur left the carriage, feeling overwhelmed at the pressure on her. As she crossed the grounds and entered the Hogwarts castle she was suddenly caught offguard by a bright flash.

"Fleur Delacour, Triwizard Champion for Beauxbatons, how does it feel to be the sole hope of your school redeeming itself in this competition?" a nasal voice shrilly said, pushing a camera into her face.

"Rita Skeeter, reporter for the Daily Prophet," the voice added, and Fleur fixed her with an icy glare.

"I just need five minutes of your time for the article reporting the first challenge," Rita said, smiling widely. Fleur still didn't say a word.

Rita's large fake smile expanded, "Honestly, hon, this will go a lot easier if you take 5 minutes now to talk to me instead of me having to follow you around and badger you."

Fleur sighed heavily and nodded. Rita cackled with delight and grabbed Fleur by the arm, wrenching her into a nearby closet. She pulled out an acid green quill and set it on a blank piece of parchment. "Quick-quotes quill," she explained to Fleur.

"Now, I just want to find out what makes the champions tick," Rita said, flashing another toothy grin at Fleur. Fleur viewed her suspiciously.

"So you entered your name into the Goblet of Fire, were you scared then of what the challenges would be?"

"Ah, more nervous, ze Tournament is very prestigious so I was mainly excited," Fleur reluctantly intoned.

"And have you spent much time with the other champions?"

"Non, not a large amount of time with zem apart from mandatory briefings or seeing zem around ze school."

"When I was last here a couple of days ago, Fleur, a source told me you were waiting outside the classrooms of underclassman Gryffindors."

Fleur went quiet again, suspicious.

"So, one could say, you have seen Harry Potter more than the other champions?"

Fleur shuffled, attempting to leave, but Rita moved between Fleur and the door.

"Sources also say you are part-Veela, Fleur? Would you say you have been using your thrall to seduce Potter?"

Fleur narrowed her eyes, "Non, zat is ridiculous, zis interview is over."

She pushed Rita out of the way and swept out of the closet. As she exited the closet, she walked right into a group of Slytherins walking towards a staircase.

"Sick of Granger already, huh?" Pansy smirked, watching as Rita emerged from the closet behind Fleur, smoothing her dress down. Rita raised her eyebrows, interested.

"When's it gonna be my turn, Delacour?" Malfoy sneered, "I took you on a date after all!"

Fleur shot an icy look at them all before gliding up the staircase ahead of them.

When she made it to the library, she was feeling thoroughly miserable. She sat down at a table next to Hermione, who was immersed in a thick leatherbound book.

"What are you reading, 'Ermione?" Fleur said, trying to will herself to sound cheerful.

"A book about Veelas," Hermione said, distracted, "I figured I should read up on it seeing as its your heritage."

Fleur's heart sank.

"Do you think you are only attracted to me because of ze Veela thrall?" she said sadly.

"I don't know, maybe, I haven't got to that chapter yet." Hermione said dismissively, still immersed in the book.

Fleur quietly packed up again and left the library, Hermione too engrossed in her book to notice.

/

Hermione didn't see Fleur for the rest of the day, which was unusual, but she assumed maybe she was just stressed about the first challenge coming up. She felt bad for ignoring Fleur in the library, and resolved to make it up to her when she next saw her.

The next morning, Hermione got ready for the day and walked down into the Gryffindor common room, where Ginny and Harry were in the middle of a heated argument.

"Gin, that's ridiculous! I'd never do that to you _or_ Hermione! You know what Skeeter's like!"

But Ginny was in the middle of a Weasley tantrum, throwing a newspaper at Harry forcefully and storming out of the common room.

"Uh, what was that about, Harry?" Hermione asked, approaching him.

Harry looked irritable and handed her the paper he had just had thrown at him. It was a _Daily Prophet._

Hermione straightened it out and looked at it. There was a giant photo of Fleur looking sulkily and icily out. Clearly visible as the picture shifted around were the red marks on her neck that Hermione had left. Hermione gasped at the headline: " _Bisexual Bombshell Attempts to Sleep Her Way to Winning Tournament."_ Underneath was a very unflattering article depicting Fleur as an unintelligent airhead who had flirted her way into the tournament. Under her conquests it listed Malfoy, Hermione and Harry, before heavily suggesting she had also slept with Krum and Cedric Diggory.

"Oh my god, poor Fleur!" Hermione gasped.

"Fucking Skeeter," Harry spat angrily, "I'm getting so sick of her character assassinations."

He screwed up the paper, "I mean Fleur flirting with Dumbledore to get her name selected? Jesus!" he added.

He turned to Hermione, "I'm sorry, this must be hard for you and Fleur."

Hermione nodded, eager to get to the Great Hall to talk to Fleur.

As her and Harry walked in, Fleur was walking out. Hermione stopped her.

"Fleur, are you okay?" Hermione asked with concern. Fleur looked miserable.

"Hey! Fleur! I can do your homework if you fuck me!" a Slytherin called out from the entrance way.

Fleur's eyes narrowed.

"Fleur, come on, I want to talk to you and make sure you're okay" Hermione said, reaching for Fleur's hand.

"Or are you just being influenced by my Veela thrall?" Fleur said icily, "I have a lot to do, I will see you later."

With that, Fleur pulled away from Hermione and glided out of the entrance.

Hermione and Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table, ignoring the jeers from Slytherins who had read the paper. Hermione looked down at her plate, upset at how miserable Fleur had looked.

"Don't worry about it, 'Mione," Harry said, buttering some toast and sighing heavily, "I've been pretty messed up since getting that owl about the first task… I've been a bit harsh with Ginny at times too…"

Hermione looked up at Harry. He blushed.

"Yeah okay, me and Ginny have been seeing each other," Harry grinned, "That's why she was upset with me this morning."

His grin faded from his face. "I really need to fix things with her, she's been so supportive of me with all the pressure I'm under…"

Hermione was thoughtful.

Harry let out a shaky long breath, "'Mione, Hagrid invited me to tail his date with Madame Maxime last night…"

"Oh, Harry… what did you see?" Hermione said sympathetically.

Harry threw a slice of toast at her, "Ew, 'Mione! Not like that!" he lowered his voice again.

"Its… its dragons Hermione… I told Ginny this morning and—"

Harry stopped abruptly. Ron was walking across the room towards them. Harry waved frantically at Hermione.

"Okay, so if Ron asks, Gin and I were fighting over a game of chess in the common room this morning!"

Hermione snorted, "You cant hide it from him forever, Harry!"

/

Fleur had spent the day holed up in the furthest corner of the library, away from people. She skipped lunch and dinner in order to focus on her preparations for the first task. She had tried to stay in her room to study but that morning had received a howler from her parents, who had seen the article in the _Daily Prophet._

It was so late now that it didn't sound like anyone else was in the library. Fleur sulkily scooped her books up and began to head for the exit. This was probably the worst day of her life.

As she made her way through the shelves someone suddenly stepped out in front of her. It was Pansy.

"What do you want?" Fleur said tiredly.

Pansy looked at the ground before looking up again "I know what the first challenge is."

"And?" Fleur said, irritated.

Pansy took a breath and continued, "I was thinking if I told you what it is… maybe…" Pansy trailed off, her eyes hungrily roaming over Fleur's body.

"Merde! What is your _problem?!"_ Fleur exclaimed with disgust. She pushed past Pansy and strode out of the library. This was definitely, officially the worst day of Fleur's life.

Fleur rushed through the castle, desperately hoping she wouldn't have a run in with anyone else.

Thankfully, she made it back to the Beauxbatons carriage and back to her door without seeing another soul.

Fleur paused. Her door was ajar. Fleur sighed and pulled out her wand, pushing open the door carefully to see what the latest horrible thing to happen was.

She opened the door and lowered her wand, shocked. Her room was full of lit candles. In the middle of her room was a small table with two chairs, two glasses of wine and a meal. Hermione was standing in front of the table, holding a bouquet of flowers.

"'Ermione?" Fleur said in disbelief.

"Fleur… I know you've been having a hard time… and I'm sorry for making you feel like I only like you because of some Veela thrall."

She walked up to Fleur. "I like you because you're caring and cute and intelligent… and so _whipped._ "

They both laughed.

Hermione continued, "I noticed you weren't in the Great Hall at lunch or dinner… so thought it might be a good time to surprise you with that date you promised me."

Fleur smiled before looking more serious again. "'Ermione, I need to prepare, Madame Maxime told me late last night zat ze first challenge is dragons…"

Hermione nodded and put a hand on Fleur's cheek.

"Yes, but you also need to keep your strength up, I'm worried about you."

Fleur teared up and Hermione wrapped her arms around her, soothing her. As they sat down and settled into their meal, Fleur found herself cheering up. It was nice to sit with Hermione and talk about all kinds of things they had read about.

As they finished off their glasses of wine, Fleur smiled at Hermione.

"I'm glad we are good again, 'Ermione."

Hermione kissed her and started to head for the door.

"'Ermione, wait…" Fleur said suddenly, "Could you stay tonight?" She looked a little embarrassed.

Hermione smiled and put her arms around Fleur, "Its okay to be scared about the challenge," she said quietly, leaning in to kiss Fleur. Fleur smiled at Hermione, glad she was there.

"Anyway," Hermione smirked, "I know a great way to take your mind off it…"

Fleur raised an eyebrow, "Are you saying 'Ermione Granger puts out after the first date?"

Hermione gave her a light shove, then took off her shirt. She pulled Fleur into a deep kiss. She pulled away for a second, dragging Fleur towards the bed.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Thanks French Canadian! Have edited with your correction :)**

* * *

There was a large fanfare as the Champions were presented to the crowd before retiring to a tent to have their dragon and order drawn. You would never have guessed that the arrogant, proud looking ice queen nodding to the crowd was the same Fleur Delacour that had clung to Hermione every night that week, a bundle of nerves about the first task.

Hermione smiled at how brave and elegant Fleur looked, even if it earned her a dirty look from Ginny who was sitting on the other side of Ron.

Cedric Diggory was up first, running smoothly by deftly transfiguring a rock into a dog, which distracted his dragon. However, as he was escaping with the egg, he was blasted with a nasty cloud of fire to his face. Hermione yelped, sudden terror gripping her for Fleur.

Fleur appeared next in the arena. She stood calmly, icily, and full of confidence. Hermione had never seen her looking sexier. Her heart was in her throat as Fleur stepped forward, showing off her advanced grasp of magic by wordlessly waving her wand at the dragon, sending it to sleep. She glided forward, simply plucked the egg out of the batch, and was striding back across the arena.

"Blimey, Hermione," Ron gasped breathlessly, "You sure snagged an impressive one," Hermione grinned proudly, noting that for once Ron was breathless because of Fleur's skill rather than her beauty. She felt quite smug at the jealousy evident in his voice.

The dragon shifted in its sleep and coughed, sending a jet of fire straight towards Fleur. Hermione let out a scream, pure adrenaline and fear coursing through her veins. But Fleur turned calmly, waving her wand to send a jet of water to put out the tail of her robes.

Hermione rose with the crowd for a standing ovation, cheering until she was hoarse.

Viktor and Harry went next, Harry sending the crowd into a frenzy as he summoned his broom and showed off his Quidditch skills to snatch his egg.

The Champions were sequestered in the tents for a while yet, so Hermione went back to the Gryffindor Common room after the Task has come to a close. Fred and George had already kicked off a celebratory party for Harry having got through the first task successfully. They were handing out shots of firewhisky to every Gryffindor to enter the common room.

"Your girlfriend did bloody well too," George said with a wink, passing Hermione her shot.

Ginny scowled and snatched the glass out of Hermione's hand.

"She's literally sleeping with the enemy, George." Ginny snapped.

"Oh come off it, Gin," George said, already turning away, "Who wouldn't be sleeping with Fleur Delacour if they had the chance."

Ginny turned on Hermione, still angry, "I really don't think its appropriate for you to be at Harry's celebration party,"

"Harry's my best friend!" Hermione scoffed, incredulous, turning to look at Ron.

Ron shifted uncomfortably before saying, "Well… it is a bit off… carrying on with Harry's competitor like that…"

"I can't believe you two!" Hermione exclaimed, outraged. She had half a mind to reveal Ginny's secret dealings with Harry to Ron, but couldn't bring herself to let Harry get caught in the crossfire. Instead, she turned on her heel and marched out of the common room.

As luck would have it, Hermione arrived at the Beauxbatons carriage just as Fleur was returning from the Champions tent. She had changed from her competing outfit to a casual dress that hugged her curves deliciously. Hermione felt herself swoon all over again.

"'Ermione!" Fleur called excitedly, pulling Hermione into a deep kiss, "Did you watch? How was I?"

Hermione pulled back, breathless, "You were magnificent, Fleur."

Fleur took her hand and led her into the carriage, walking them in a different direction down the hallway to where they usually went. She opened a door to a spacious lounge, which was filled with Beauxbatons students, who let out enthusiastic cheers as she entered.

"I am sorry, 'Ermione," Fleur whispered in Hermione's ear as she held her hand, "Zey insisted I must attend at least briefly."

Two pretty Beauxbatons girls approached Fleur and Hermione and offered them a glass of champagne each. Hermione noticed them looking at Fleur with admiration and felt a pang of jealousy. Of course, this did not go unnoticed by Fleur, who smirked.

Hermione went and sat on one of the plush leather couches as Fleur chattered excitedly in French to her friends. Hermione could tell her classmates were swooning over Fleur themselves, and settled herself in to jealously drink her champagne. She was interrupted by Fleur gliding across the room and sitting in her lap.

"I see you looking jealously at my classmates, ma cheri," Fleur said, as Hermione snaked an arm around her waist, "I am all yours." With that they finished their champagne and made their way to Fleur's room.

Fleur had scarcely shut the door when Hermione heavily pinned her against it, panting into her ear. "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" Fleur murmured, surprised by Hermione.

"You were so sexy out there today," Hermione said roughly, leaning to kiss Fleur's neck fiercely. She bit down lightly as Fleur let out a small moan. She kissed up Fleur's jawline and then made it to her lips, biting heavily on Fleur's lower lip before slipping her tongue into her mouth. She pulled back and began yanking her clothes off, before tearing Fleur's dress off her. Fleur was speechless, her eyes dark with desire. Hermione pushed her against the wall again, kissing her deeply, grabbing Fleur roughly by the hips. Fleur allowed herself to be lifted against the wall, wrapping her legs around Hermione. Hermione could feel the heat of Fleur's arousal pressing hot and wet against her stomach. She pulled Fleur away from the door and carried her across the room, throwing her onto the bed. She clambered up on top of Fleur, grinding her body against hers, enjoying the thrill of feeling Fleur's hips and breasts against hers, running her hand over the French champion's perfect body. She rolled on her back, pulling Fleur on top of her. Fleur was hungrily kissing at her neck, then sucking at Hermione's earlobe. Hermione ran her hands down Fleur's back, resting them on Fleur's perfect ass before giving it a light spank. She felt Fleur smile into her neck.

Fleur's hands made their way down Hermione and began rubbing at her clit. Hermione let out a loud moan. Fleur trailed herself down Hermione, biting her collarbone lightly before sucking and nipping at her nipples. She allowed her hand to travel lower on Hermione, slipping two fingers inside her. Hermione bucked her hips with pleasure and Fleur started thrusting deeper into her. Hermione looked at the absolute bombshell's long silver-blonde mane draped over her body. As she took in the vision of Fleur Delacour, with her perfect cheekbones and jawline, kissing and sucking on her nipples while fucking her, Hermione felt a sudden rush of pleasure and came hard.

Fleur moved back up to lie on top of Hermione, grinding against her hungrily, want evident in her eyes. Hermione slipped a thigh between Fleur's and felt her grind against it. "Please, 'Ermione," Fleur whimpered into Hermione's ear. Hermione smirked and rolled over again, pinning Fleur beneath her. Fleur writhed with frustration as Hermione kissed down her neck softly. Fleur was getting impossibly wet now. "You like that?" Hermione said huskily into her ear. Fleur let out a moan as Hermione pressed her thigh harder against her centre. "Oui." Hermione slid off Fleur, moving to spoon her from behind. She heard Fleur's breath coming raggedly.

"Zis is not fair, 'Ermione," Fleur panted, "Zis is too cruel.." At those words, Hermione snaked an arm under Fleur, reaching around to grab one of her perfect breasts. Her other hand slid between Fleur's legs from behind. She rubbed Fleur's clit as Fleur arched her back into her. Hermione bit down on her neck and she moaned. She slid her fingers inside Fleur and began thrusting, enjoying the uncontrollable moaning and writhing she was eliciting from the blonde. Finally, with one last "'Ermione!" the blonde shuddered and came, leaning back against Hermione.

Hermione wrapped her arms around Fleur from behind, properly spooning her now. They were both blissed out.

"Well, zat was one way of getting rid of ze adrenaline rush from ze first challenge," Fleur said, smiling to herself. She rolled over and nestled into Hermione's arms.

Hermione ran her hair through Fleur's silky mane of hair, deep in thought.

"What will we do when the competition is over?" Hermione asked out loud.

"I told you, I am yours, Hermione Granger," Fleur murmured into Hermione.

"Yeah, but, how is this going to work?" Hermione said, "I still have years left of school and you'll be in France…"

"Let us not worry about that yet," Fleur said soothingly, nestling further into Hermione's arms.

Hermione's mind now turned to Ginny furiously banishing her from Harry's party. She told Fleur about the bad reaction Ginny had been having, before adding "and then she practically kicked me out of Harry's party, saying I was 'sleeping with the opposition'!" Hermione said, outraged once more.

Fleur raised her head to look at Hermione, quirking one eyebrow before looking down at their naked entwined bodies, "well… it certainly does look like zat…"

Hermione, caught off-guard, broke into a laugh.

"Fleur?" she asked, putting a hand on Fleur's cheek, "Will you be my girlfriend?"


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Thanks all those who have left lovely reviews. Sorry for being so inconsistent with Fleur's accent- its bloody hard to keep up!**

* * *

The next morning Hermione woke up to her first day of ever being in a relationship. Fleur stirred next to her, her face nestled into Hermione's hair and an arm lying across her stomach.

"Morning, girlfriend," Hermione murmured and Fleur made an unintelligible happy sleepy sound before pulling herself up to rest on an elbow. She ran a hand through her silky blonde hair and smiled at Hermione.

"God, Fleur," Hermione said quietly in disbelief, "How do you still look like a model first thing in the morning?"

Fleur grinned more and leaned in to kiss Hermione softly.

"You surprised me last night…" Fleur purred, "It was very hot."

Hermione blushed at the memory, "I've actually been thinking about doing that for a while…"

Fleur smiled slyly and slid herself down the bed, slowly disappearing under the sheets. Hermione was confused, before feeling Fleur move against her and start kissing the inside of her thighs. Hermione shut her eyes and her breathing started getting more ragged. She felt the first gentle, tentative kisses of Fleur reaching her clit before she started licking. Hermione moaned and arched her back as Fleur increased in speed. She felt herself getting closer, closer, closer… before finally the burst of pleasure rolled through her. She tried to regain her composure as Fleur moved back up her body to bring her face to Hermione's.

Hermione kissed her softly before murmuring, "just as I was thinking life couldn't get much better than cuddling a naked Fleur Delacour in her bed…"

Fleur rolled off Hermione and onto her back, stretching before reaching curiously for the dragon egg from the challenge. She shifted it from hand to hand, weighing it, before finding an indentation and prying it open. A blood curdling screaming noise pierced their ears and Fleur yelped, dropping the egg. Hermione snatched it and snapped it shut.

"Well, that's a disturbing clue…" Fleur said, shaking her head.

"You'll figure it out," Hermione said encouragingly, climbing out of bed and beginning to get dressed, "In the meantime, I should probably make it to breakfast to congratulate Harry seeing as I spent all of last night celebrating with you…"

Fleur smirked, "as long as you don't congratulate Harry in the same way you congratulated me last night."

Hermione left Fleur's room with one last look at Fleur naked, sprawled across her bed lazily rolling the Triwizard egg around.

As she arrived into the Great Hall for breakfast, she spotted Harry sitting between Ginny and Ron. She strode over and sat opposite them.

"Fresh from the clutches of the enemy?" Ginny said in a surly tone. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You are being so outrageous," Hermione said dismissively, in too good of a mood after her morning for Ginny to spoil it. Hermione smiled at Harry.

"By the way Harry, fantastic job! You really showed off your broom skills!"

Harry nodded enthusiastically and launched into a big debrief of how he had thought of it. Hermione listened gladly, but was very conscious of both Weasley's eying her suspiciously.

"You aren't gonna tell Fleur about Harry's inside tactics are you?" Ron said thickly through a mouthful of eggs.

"For the task that has already been completed? Come on, Ronald" Hermione replied, rolling her eyes again. Ron swallowed his ridiculous mouthful and nodded thoughtfully.

"I guess you're right, 'Mione. So what's she like?" Ron asked. Hermione was shocked at Ron actually showing an interest in her love life.

"Well, she's actually a lot more sensitive and intelligent than you would expect," Hermione gushed. Ron nodded.

"Ahuh, so what's she like in bed?" Ron said with a leering smile.

"Ugh, bonding moment ruined, Ronald." Hermione said, wondering how many times she could roll her eyes in one morning.

"Yeah, Ron, gross," Ginny said, disgusted, "Nobody wants to think about those two together like that, its so sick."

Harry looked shocked at Ginny taking such an intense stance. Ron forked another heaping of eggs into his mouth before replying.

"Well, tha's where you' wron', Gin" Ron said, muffled by all the food rolling around his mouth, "I'm very in'eres'ed."

Hermione threw a piece of toast across the table at Ron, disgusted with him. They ate the rest of breakfast in silence, Harry shooting apologetic looks at Hermione. The group rose together to walk back to the Gryffindor common room. They were still in a stony silence as they were leaving through the big doorway. A group of Slytherins were entering, including Malfoy and Pansy. Just as they were crossing paths, Pansy leapt forward and threw a pumpkin juice in Hermione's face, shouting "dyke!" The Slytherins erupted into guffaws and walked off.

Hermione stopped. Harry whirled to face her, quickly using his wand to clean Hermione up.

"Jesus, I'm sorry Hermione," Harry said, "Of course the Slytherins are fucking homophobes." Harry clenched his fists with anger, starting to march after the Slytherins before Hermione and Ron grabbed him to hold him back. When Hermione turned back around, she saw Ginny standing staring after the Slytherins, her face a mix of anger and guilt.

"Ugh, whatever," Hermione said, "Its still worth it to call Fleur my girlfriend."

"Its official?" Harry said, a smile forming on his face.

"Woah, congrats 'Mione," Ron said, slapping her on the shoulder.

* * *

Later on that day, Hermione made her way to the library to study. It was more crowded than usual so she couldn't secure her usual seat. Instead she had to share a table with Ginny, who was still acting awkwardly around her.

Even more unfortunate was that the table next door was occupied by Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy. Pansy was writing an essay, frequently crossing out her work and balling up the paper and enchanting it to fly over and hit Hermione.

Hermione was furrowing her brows, concentrating hard on ignoring Pansy when she noticed someone approaching her table. She looked up and saw Fleur beaming at her.

"'Ermione! Of course my little bookworm would be in ze library," she smiled.

Pansy had just enchanted another balled up piece of paper to hit Hermione. Fleur frowned and turned to look at who was throwing things at Hermione. When she saw who, a small cold smile crossed her face.

"Hm. Interesting." She remarked, and a very slight blush raised itself on Pansy's face. Fleur pulled out her wand, directing it at Pansy's semi-completed essay. It transfigured into a bouquet of hydrangeas. Fleur then flicked her wand at Pansy's textbooks, transfiguring them into doves. She scooped up the hydrangeas as the doves began fluttering around. Fleur turned back to Hermione.

"'Ermione, I 'ave never felt zis way about someone before…" she said, offering the bouquet to Hermione, "Will you go to ze Yule Ball with me?"

By now, most of the library had turned to look at Fleur and Hermione. Hermione could hear several "aww"s from distant tables.

"Of course, Fleur!" Hermione said, blushing at Fleur's public act of affection. Fleur smiled and dipped down to quickly kiss Hermione on the lips.

"Wait, what about my essay and textbooks?!" Pansy exclaimed, looking irate.

"Ah, keep studying," Fleur said, smiling, "You will figure out how to reverse it… after all you do 'ave all the answers, non?"

Pansy frowned, recognising that Fleur was calling her out for offering her information on the first challenge.

"'Ermione, will you join me after dinner today? Unfortunately, I will be in my room until then trying to decode the second challenge. You understand why ze library is inappropriate to attempt zat…"

Hermione nodded, remembering the horrific screaming noise the dragon egg made that morning. With that, Fleur kissed her again quickly and then glided out of the library again.

"So she really cares about you…" Ginny said, her eyes still on her homework.

"Yeah, she does, Gin. I care about her too," Hermione replied, a little annoyed.

"'Mione, I'm sorry for being a dick," Ginny said, sighing heavily, "I never meant to snowball into acting like Parkinson over there," she said, lifting her head and jerking it towards Pansy.

"Its just, well, its Fleur Delacour…" Ginny said, looking at Hermione.

"What does that mean?" Hermione asked, frowning.

"You know, everyone drools over her, she seems really arrogant…" Ginny replied, "…it just seemed like a really weird choice for you… and she's Harry's competitor"

Hermione shook her head. "She seems like that, but there's more to her, Gin."

Ginny continued "And you were so happy to tell your friends about your feelings for her, and asked her out in front of the Great Hall…" she paused and swallowed heavily, looking around before lowering her voice, "Harry refuses to tell anyone about us."

"Oh, Gin," Hermione said, looking sympathetically at Ginny, "He's under a lot of pressure and afraid of Ron's temper… he'll get there."

* * *

That evening Hermione headed over to the Beauxbatons carriage, barely knocking the door once before the door flew open and Fleur pulled her inside, kissing her fiercely.

"I missed you," Fleur said, wrapping her arms around Hermione, "I didn't even make any progress with the stupid egg today so I missed spending a day in the library with you for nothing."

"You're in no rush," Hermione smiled, loving the pure fact that Fleur Delacour had missed her, "They've said the second challenge won't be until after the Yule Ball or Christmas, so we may as well make the most of spending the festive season together." She kissed Fleur again.

"Urgh, don't remind me," Fleur said, "Its already so cold! Madame Maxime insisted we can only wear our summer uniforms 'ere because it looks better for any pictures taken."

"Well, I guess you'll be needing someone to warm you up then…" Hermione said, starting to push Fleur towards the bed.


	13. Chapter 13

As the Yule Ball drew closer, Fleur received several notes and requests from students asking her to abandon Hermione and take them to the ball instead. Fleur kept her usual frosty demeanour towards them all, but felt bad whenever she saw a look of doubt on Hermione's face.

"You are the only person I would possibly want to go with," she would say warmly to Hermione, taking her hand and giving her a quick kiss.

Of course it didn't help that every time Fleur turned her back Slytherins would taunt Hermione, trying to make her feel like she didn't deserve Fleur or that it was all an elaborate joke.

Hermione would scrunch up her face, nervously pulling at her uniform and bushy hair, and ask Fleur what she saw in a nerd like her. So Fleur continued walking Hermione to her classes and waiting outside for her, doing everything in her power to soothe Hermione's self doubts.

Potions was by far her favourite class. She would see Hermione in her element, poring over books and leaping into action. Sometimes their eyes would meet across the cauldron and they would both smile, a look of mutual admiration on their faces. Today, in their last class of the day, they were working on a potion where they had to peel some slimy pods. Hermione laughed at Fleur's look of disgust as they wrangled with them. Finally, she managed to extract the seeds from their pods. To her horror, they released an irritating high pitched buzzing noise. She pushed them away from her, thoroughly disgusted.

"Relax, babe," Hermione said, smirking, as she scooped up the seeds. She deposited them swiftly into the thick steaming mixture in the cauldron. As they began to sink, the high buzzing turned to a low hum, then a strange whistle as they sank below the silence. Eventually they were silent and hidden in the mixture. Fleur stared at the cauldron, curious, her mind suddenly turning to the Triwizard egg. She remained deep in thought until the end of the class.

"Where are you going, Fleur?" Hermione asked as they left the class, "Will I see you at dinner?"

"Oui," she said distractedly, "I am going to take a bath…"

Fleur wandered through the halls, searching for one of the bathrooms that the Beauxbatons students had been shown they could use. As comfortable as their carriage was, they only had showers, and no baths. She frowned at the gaudy tinsel wriggling its way over the walls of the castle like caterpillars. While she had to admire the Hogwarts Christmas spirit beginning to spread, it certainly had none of the subtlety of her school back home.

She finally found her way to the room she needed, muttering the password ("Minty Fresh") to the cherub statue standing guard. The statue nodded and the door opened dutifully for Fleur. She wandered in and looked around the bathroom. There were a row of toilet stalls along one side of the room. On the other side of the room there was a very large bath at ground level. It was the size of a small pool or a large spa. It had easily fifty different taps of differing sizes around it. Each one had a glass or jeweled handle of a differing colour. Fleur selected a lily white one and a dusty pink tap and allowed the bath to begin to fill.

The smell of vanilla and roses began to fill the bathroom as she set her satchel down on a bench near the bath. She began to disrobe slowly, stretching out to ease her tense muscles after a day of being leant over desks. When she was undressed, she pulled out the egg from her satchel, tossing it lightly from hand to hand as she walked slowly towards the bath. The bath was full now already and Fleur whipped her wand quickly to turn off the taps. She sat on the edge of the bath, placing both the egg and her wand beside the bath before sliding into the water. It had been a long time since she had last had a bath, and she relished the warm water working on her muscles. She picked up the egg and, wincing, opened it to release its shrill blood curdling scream. As it screamed, she slowly began to lower the egg into the water, curious as to what would happen. There was a gurgle as the egg submerged, before nothing. Fleur was confused. She decided to try another angle, and submerged herself under the water too.

" _Come seek us where our voices sound,_  
 _We cannot sing above the ground,_  
 _And while you're searching ponder this;_  
 _We've taken what you'll sorely miss,_  
 _An hour long you'll have to look,_  
 _And to recover what we took,_  
 _But past an hour, the prospect's black,_  
 _Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."_

The song finished and Fleur rose out of the water again, catching her breath. She listened to the golden egg's song five more times before she rose to someone else sitting across the bath from her. She snapped the egg shut and narrowed her eyes.

"What on earth are you doing 'ere?" she asked coldly.

"Taking in the view," Pansy leaned her head against the edge of the bath behind her smugly.

Fleur made a look of disgust, placing the egg back beside the bath and then firmly folding her arms across her chest.

"You know, I can help you figure out what the message means," Pansy said, eying up Fleur, "I'm pretty smart for my year at Hogwarts."

Fleur sighed heavily, wondering when Pansy would leave her and Hermione alone already.

"I am capable of working it out myself," Fleur said icily, "And you forget my girlfriend is ze smartest witch in 'er year at 'Ogwarts… I don't need anyone else's 'elp to study."

Pansy frowned, "what do you see in Granger?"

"She likes me for more zan my looks for starters," Fleur huffed, reaching for her wand and using it to summon a towel to her.

"You and ze Malfoy boy and your friends… you need to leave 'Ermione and I alone," Fleur added, scowling.

"Yeah… well… I think Draco is still a little annoyed at Granger for cutting his date short. And I don't have much in the way of motivation to cut it out…" Pansy smirked, leaning back and resting her arms on the edge of the bath behind her.

Fleur realized with anger that Pansy was waiting for her to get out of the bath to check her out. She whirled her wand, muttering a spell and a mini sized solar flare burst out at Pansy, disappearing as soon as it appeared. Pansy shrieked, blinded.

Fleur took the opportunity to climb out of the bath and towel off, before quickly getting changed.

"I'm bliiiind!" Pansy wailed from the bath.

"Your vision will come back any minute now," Fleur said calmly, packing the golden egg into her satchel.

Sure enough as she turned around with her satchel on her shoulder, Pansy was glaring at her from the bath.

"You know Granger isn't the perfect princess everyone thinks she is!" Pansy spat bitterly.

Fleur was unfazed and tapped her hair with her wand, instantly drying it.

"Just leave us alone," Fleur said calmly, turning and walking out of the bathroom. She weaved through the Hogwarts hallways, irritated.

The Hogwarts hallways were all dark and grim, winding so wildly that soon she was lost. She found herself in a darkened hallway lined with empty classrooms. As she turned around to track back the way she had come, she heard low muttering coming from a dark classroom with its door ajar. She slowed down, pausing outside. Inside she could see a single flickering candle. The candle's dim light was shining up on two familiar faces. One was Cedric Diggory, the other was the grizzled and creepy Mad-Eye Moody's face. Mad-Eye's glass eye was rolling wildly around in its socket, before fixing itself towards Fleur. The muttering stopped and Fleur looked to see Mad-Eye's hand clenching Cedric's knee so tightly his knuckles were white. Cedric was pale, his eyes terrified. He nodded frantically before Mad-Eye released him.

Cedric came stumbling out into the hallway, almost crashing into Fleur.

"Fl-Fleur? W-what are you doing here?" he stammered, and Fleur could see beads of cold sweat on his forehead.

"I got lost trying to find my way to ze Great Hall…" Fleur said, looking at Cedric with concern.

"R-right, its this way…" Cedric said, grabbing her arm and wheeling them both swiftly down the hallway and through the castle.

"Are you okay, Cedric?" Fleur asked, a little spooked by the strange scene she had seen and the speed at which Cedric was pulling them away.

"Yeah," he said, sighing heavily now they had got further away from the classroom. The entrance way to the Great Hall was visible at the end of the hallway they turned onto. "Mad-Eye is just a really creepy dude…"

As they joined the throngs of people waiting outside the Great Hall, Cedric let go of Fleur's arm, disappearing into the crowd quickly. Fleur shifted on her feet, confused by the evening's events. As she was returning her thoughts to the golden egg and its clue, a familiar face framed with brunette curls emerged from the crowds.

"I thought I'd seen you," Hermione smiled, slipping her hand into Fleur's.

Fleur kissed her softly, eager to tell her about her evening. But before she could, Hermione lurched forward, about to fall on the ground. Fleur's athletic instincts kicked in and she leaned to swiftly put an arm around Hermione and keep her standing. They heard sniggers coming from behind them. It was the Slytherins.

"Better watch out, Granger," Pansy sneered, "It would be a shame if you were to get injured and miss the ball…"

Fleur filled with rage and spun to face Pansy. The nerve of her to pick on Hermione so soon after Fleur had told her not to. But Hermione placed a calming hand on Fleur's shoulder and pulled her away. Fleur was shaking with anger. Hermione walked them to the end of the Gryffindor table where they sat down. Fleur took a long drink of water and sighed, already calming down with Hermione's hand on her thigh. Finally, she had calmed down enough to tell Hermione about her evening, from the egg in the bathroom to the weird scene with Mad-Eye. Hermione listened patiently, raising an eyebrow at Pansy following Fleur to the bathroom.

Hermione swallowed, "Well, I have to say I'm not sure whether to be more creeped out by Mad-Eye or Pansy…" she shook her head before smiling, "But babe! You figured out the egg!" she pecked Fleur on the cheek.

Fleur smiled, "I really only got the idea from watching you with zose disgusting seeds in potions class,"

Hermione's face lit up, "you know, its really attractive when you figure out complex problems."

Fleur giggled, "you really are my little nerd," she said, kissing Hermione. By now they had finished their meals and rose from the table, heading out of the Great Hall hand in hand. As they exited, Hermione pulled Fleur into a dark and empty classroom. Fleur moved to comment, but Hermione smiled knowingly and flicked her wand at the door, locking it.

Hermione moved to Fleur, pushing her against a wall and kissing her hard. Fleur kissed her back, opening her mouth to let Hermione's tongue in. Her hands began to roam over Hermione's body when there was a sudden loud bang and they pulled apart from their kiss to look at the doorway in shock. There in the darkness, filling the doorway, was Mad-Eye Moody.


	14. Chapter 14

There was a slow clop as Mad-Eye limped towards Hermione and Fleur. His wand was in his hand, probably just from unlocking the door, but it appeared somewhat threatening.

"The, ah, Beauxbatons champion, right?" he grunted, nearing them now. Fleur nodded in assent.

Mad-Eye turned to Hermione, "I would like a private word with the champion, Granger." His false eye was rolling wildly around in his head.

Hermione could sense Fleur tense beside her, the imposing shadow of Mad-Eye in the dark classroom still giving a threatening impression. She took Fleur's hand tightly, "I'm not leaving."

Mad-Eye sighed, "Fine. Look, I wanted to talk to you about the second task."

"I don't feel comfortable discussing ze task, I would not want to be accused of cheating," Fleur said carefully. Mad-Eye sighed again, heavier.

"Have you, er, tried taking the egg near water?" he growled.

"Professor Moody!" Hermione exclaimed, "This is entirely inappropriate! You're risking Fleur being disqualified for cheating!"

Moody growled, shaking his grizzled head, "I would say two students sneaking into off-limits classrooms after hours is inappropriate, Granger. Do you want a detention?"

Hermione shook her head in response and Mad-Eye grumbled, turning around and slowly hobbling out of the classroom again.

"Zat was very creepy…" Fleur said, still holding Hermione's hand.

"That… that wasn't right… there's something going on here," Hermione said, furrowing her brow.

"You zink 'e is messing with ze competition?" Fleur said, looking at Hermione with concern. Hermione bit her lip and looked at Fleur.

"I think there is something weird going on with Moody and the competition…" Hermione said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

They moved to the doorway of the classroom, the mood thoroughly ruined, before stepping out into the hallway.

"See, Professor?" Malfoy was standing in the hallway, his arms folded smugly in front of himself. Snape was standing next to him, curling his lip.

"Granger… I have to say I am surprised…" Snape drawled, looking from Hermione to Fleur.

"Professor-" Hermione started, but she was cut off.

"Detention for both you and Miss Delacour, Granger," Snape intoned nasally, "And maybe that will iron out your compulsion to stray to off-limits areas out of hours."

Snape clicked his knuckles before turning on his heel and sweeping off down the hallway.

"What the hell, Malfoy?!" Hermione growled, "Do you Slytherins ever take a break from making people's lives miserable?"

"Lets just call us even now," Malfoy said with a smirk, before heading off towards the Slytherin dungeons.

"Ugh, what a day!" Fleur exclaimed, tossing her head back with frustration, "I guess I should head back to ze carriage before Madame Maxime hears about zis and decides to give me another lecture…"

"Would you like some company?" Hermione said with a sly smile. Fleur smirked.

"Well, I guess Pansy was right… you aren't a perfect princess…" she said, kissing Hermione quickly. Hermione blushed and they slipped silently out of the castle, taking care not to be caught by any more staff or Slytherins.

* * *

The next morning, Hermione woke up, looking happily over at Fleur's beautiful sleeping figure in the bed beside her. Definitely worth a detention. She kissed Fleur's forehead softly and scrawled a note on a scrap of parchment, letting Fleur know she had gone to breakfast and let her sleep in.

Fleur had a tendency to work hard, almost as hard as Hermione, and she hadn't been giving herself enough rest while trying to figure out the clue of the golden egg. It was the least Hermione could do to let her rest.

Hermione slipped back into the castle unseen, it was quite early so she only ran into a leering Filch mopping floors. The Fat Lady gave her a knowing eyebrow raise as she slipped into the Gryffindor common room.

By the time Hermione had showered and changed for the day, other Gryffindors were starting to rise. She was just folding her clothes and putting them away when Ginny approached her.

"You stay over with her quite a bit," Ginny said, her tone almost forcefully neutral. Hermione sighed, it was too early for one of Ginny's moods.

"Harry still hasn't told anyone about you two, has he?" she said, sitting on the edge of her bed. Ginny kicked at the foot of Hermione's bed.

"He even goes along with Ron's stupid conversations about finding a date to the Yule Ball… I don't get it… surely its less of a big deal for him to tell Ron about me than it was for you to come out to everyone."

Hermione sighed, she wasn't the smartest witch in her year for nothing, she knew what was coming.

"I'll talk to him, Gin…" she sighed. Ginny's face immediately lit up.

"Oh, well, cheers 'Mione!" she grinned. Hermione rolled her eyes. She loved the Weasleys like a second family, but they all had a tendency to be temperamental and self-involved. But at least Ginny had stopped being horrible about her and Fleur.

Ginny swept off to the showers and Hermione went down to the common room where she met Harry. They started walking down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Harry, you have to tell Ron about you and Ginny," Hermione said, "Its driving her crazy."

Harry frowned, "I know… but you saw the tantrum Ron threw when my name came out of the goblet of fire… he would go mental all over again…"

"He pretty much already knows, though," Hermione reasoned, "You've seen the number of times he's tried to call you out on it!"

Harry shrugged, a little grumpy about being needled about the topic. As they walked into the Great Hall Ron waved at them from the Gryffindor table, his plate already piled high with food.

"No morning walk this morning, Har?" Ron asked, stuffing a waffle into his mouth. Hermione exchanged a meaningful glance with Harry who shook his head and sat down.

"Speaking of walks," Hermione said, reluctantly changing the subject for Harry, "Yesterday Fleur and I caught Moody acting really weirdly. I think he's trying to rig the tournament, Harry."

Both boys stopped eating and looked at Hermione in disbelief.

"Moody? No way, 'Mione, he's one of the good guys," Ron said defensively.

"He was telling Cedric clues about the golden egg and then tried to tell Fleur too…" Hermione explained, "I don't know, maybe he wants Harry to lose? There's something suspicious going on."

"Hmm… But Diggory came and gave me a weird hint about the egg yesterday after dinner…" Harry said, scratching his head, "Why would Moody help him if he knew that Diggory would tell me?"

Hermione chewed her toast thoughtfully, "I'm not sure," she said between bites, "But whatever is going on, I'm going to figure it out." She finished her toast quickly and stood up. She nudged Harry meaningfully.

"Uh, so, Ron…" Harry began, "About that whole morning walk thing…"

Hermione quickly left before the worst of it commenced, stealing away into the hallways of Hogwarts. Classes had finished for the holidays, and most of the teachers were in holiday mode, many sleeping in. It was the perfect time to snoop.

She strolled down the hallway leading to Moody's office, making sure to appear casual as she passed the odd student heading to breakfast. She paused outside his office, waiting for a while to ensure there were no more students coming. She drew close to the door, muttering " _alohamora."_ It clicked open and Hermione slowly opened it.

Moody was a famously paranoid man, but Hermione was struck by how simple it was to get into his office. It seemed counter to everything she had heard about him. His office was quite bare, a stack of parchment and books on the desk beside an empty flask, and a large trunk in the middle of the room. Hermione walked to the desk, trying drawers. They were all strangely empty. Not even quills or spare ink in them.

She leafed through the parchment on his desk, lesson plans, including a pretty creepy plan for teaching students about unforgiveable curses. Hermione shivered. How was that allowed in a teaching environment? She picked up the books on his desk with interest, they were all about dark magic… unsurprising given Moody was teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Hermione heard a dull thump and jumped, it seemed to come from the trunk in the middle of the room. She moved around the desk and edged slowly towards it, curious. Her hand was outstretched, reaching slowly for the buckles, when she was wrenched backwards by the shoulders.

She turned in panic, only to see a familiar pair of ice blue eyes looking at her with concern.

"'Ermione! What the 'ell do you zink you are doing?!" Fleur said, dragging her out of the office and shutting the door behind them. Hermione was breathing shallowly, the adrenaline still rushing through her veins. She kissed Fleur suddenly, hard, pushing Fleur against the wall. Fleur kissed back momentarily before pushing her back.

"Do you realize 'ow much trouble you could 'ave been in?" Fleur said, concern painted across her face, "You are lucky I ran into 'Arry on my way into ze castle and suspected what you were up to."

Hermione furrowed her brows defensively, "Yeah but it was worth it."

Fleur quirked a perfectly groomed eyebrow, "Oui? What did you discover ma cherie?"

Hermione swallowed guiltily, "Erm, well, he is definitely creepy…" she said weakly, and Fleur took her hand tightly, dragging her down the hallway.

"You are most definitely trouble, 'Ermione," Fleur laughed melodically, "Now come, we do not 'ave much time before our detention." She pulled a reluctant Hermione behind her through the hallways and out to the grounds. Hermione couldn't complain too much though, the view of Fleur's hips swaying slowly as she walked in her short uniform skirt was quite enjoyable. So much so that Hermione didn't look up at her surroundings until they came to a stop and Fleur groaned.

Hermione looked up and groaned too. They were assembled outside Hagrid's hut to report for detention with the other students assigned detentions. There was a surly looking Durmstrang girl and a pretty brunette Beauxbatons girl. Behind them were the hulking figures of Crabbe and Goyle standing beside Pansy Parkinson. Of course.

"Bonjour, Adele," Fleur greeted the other Beauxbatons student with a smile, intentionally ignoring the Slytherins. Adele replied rapidly in French, obviously put out at being in detention.

Before the Slytherins could sling any insults at Hermione or Fleur, the door to Hagrid's hut opened and he ambled out.

"Okay," Hagrid chirped, clapping his two dustpan sized hands together, "So we're splitting up to collect some wild shrubs for Madam Pomfrey from around the grounds."

Fleur pulled her and Hermione closer to Adele, hoping to avoid being grouped with the Slytherins.

"Awright, so you lot are with me," Hagrid said, gesturing at Adele, Crabbe and Goyle. Fleur sighed with disappointment. Hargid nodded at the Durmstrang girl, Pansy, Fleur and Hermione, handing them a scrunched up piece of paper. It had a drawing of a spiky looking shrub on it.

"Should be near sources of water," He grunted, leading Adele and the Slytherin boys off towards the Forbidden Forest.

"Hermione Granger," Hermione said, extending a hand to the Durmstrang girl. Pansy snickered at Hermione's formality. Fleur narrowed her eyes at Pansy.

"Ana," the Durmstrang girl replied sulkily. They set off across the grounds, stopping at small ponds to search amongst the plantlife for the shrubs. At one, they found some tall rocks, one of them with a crop of wet looking spiky shrubs on top of them. Ana and Fleur jumped athletically up the rocks, silently competing with each other. As they bounded up, Hermione turned to look at Pansy. Pansy was leering at Fleur, probably able to see up her skirt from this angle. Hermione shoved her hard.

"What is wrong with you?" Hermione barked, "Fleur told me you've been acting like a lech around her." Pansy blushed and her face twisted into a snarl. She shoved Hermione back.

"I have not!" Pansy said, her blush revealing the lie.

"You know you could just come out," Hermione said challengingly, "Its not like anyone apart from you and your cronies were awful to me after I did."

Pansy didn't reply, crossing her arms defensively.

"Who knows, maybe if you did you would have a shot with someone like Ana," Hermione said, following Pansy's gaze. Pansy blushed again, going to throw an insult at Hermione, but was interrupted by the two athletic girls leaping back down from the rocks.

"Ve haf it," Ana said, triumphantly holding up a bunch of the shrubs. Fleur had a matching handful.

"Okay, well we just about have enough to finish off detention," Hermione said, scanning the grounds, "I'm guessing we could find enough to finish early if we search around the lake." The group of girls walked off towards the lake, Ana and Fleur striding ahead, their silent competition continuing. Hermione found herself smiling, it was cute when Fleur went all jock on her. They made it to the lake, Ana and Fleur scrambling through the reeds to try and find the most shrubs.

"You know, I'm sure the Slytherins would be fine with it if you did come out," Hermione said, looking at Pansy who had been silent for a long time now, "They're jerks, but they're your friends."

"Drop it, Granger," Pansy said, striding off further down the lake.

"Wait, Pansy—" Hermione started, seeing a strange figure crouched over by the water's edge.

Pansy continued marching away, the crouched figure suddenly swiveled, startled.

"Sectum Sempra!" the figure bellowed, and Pansy let out a loud shriek, falling to the ground, clutching her torso which was bleeding heavily.

Fleur and Ana were beside Hermione in an instant, wands drawn. Their jaws dropped as the figure rushed forward to staunch Pansy's bleeding.

"Professor Moody?!" Fleur exclaimed, shocked.

"You shouldn't bloody sneak up on people!" Moody grunted "Will somebody help me?"


	15. Chapter 15

Pansy was heavily bandaged in the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey bustling back and forth while muttering obscenities under her breath. Moody had disappeared almost as soon as Snape had emerged to check on his student. At this moment, Snape was trying to corral Pomfrey in a corner to discuss the best methods of healing Pansy. With Pomfrey indisposed, the girls promptly turned to talk about what had just happened.

"Moody ATTACKED a student," Hermione hissed to the others.

"Bloody near murdered me…" Pansy whimpered quietly from underneath her bandages.

"It vas very terry-fying" Ana agreed, nodding somberly.

"And he had a lesson plan for _unforgivable curses!"_ Hermione exclaimed in a whisper. Fleur put a hand on her arm as a warning, afraid Hermione would admit to breaking into Moody's office.

"Not to mention he disappeared as soon as ve arrived at the infirmary…" Ana said, narrowing her eyes with suspicion.

"We have to figure out what that psycho is up to," Pansy said weakly, trying to sit up before whimpering and settling back on her pillows. Ana nodded and looked to Hermione and Fleur. Hermione raised her eyebrows… thinking for a moment… but ultimately her thirst for answers won. She nodded.

"'Ermione, non!" Fleur said sharply, "Zis is a crazy idea… we will all likely end up in detention and I will get disqualified from ze Tournament! I will not be a part of zis."

"But Fleur," Hermione said, turning to look her in the eyes, "You yourself said there is something off about how Moody is behaving…"

"J'en ai plus rien à foutre!" Fleur exclaimed angrily, slipping into French, "'Ermione, I'm not going to 'ave you risking your safety! I would do many zings for you, but I cannot aid you in such a ridiculous task. Promise me you will stay away from zat madman!"

Hermione bit her lip, not willing to make the promise. She had to find out what was going on with Moody. Fleur exhaled angrily before getting to her feet and sweeping out of the infirmary.

There was an awkward silence as they sat there, an odd group, before Pomfrey and Snape returned with a batch of potions to counter the cuts on Pansy.

"When I'm out of here…" Pansy said, looking at Ana and Hermione. They both nodded grimly in agreement.

"So, Miss Parkinson," Snape intoned as he handed her a vial of an amber liquid, "Madam Pomfrey here informs me that Professor Moody saw a dangerous magical creature near you but… missed…" he curled his lip.

 _'Surely he doesn't believe that too…'_ Hermione thought with disbelief. But then, she could never be sure of Snape or his intentions. A bad habit of Harry's that had rubbed off on her, she supposed.

"There was nothing there!" Pansy said, gasping as Pomfrey applied a heavy ointment on a gash near her shoulder.

"None of them would have seen, Alastair told me it happened _very fast,_ " Pomfrey said in a confidential tone to Snape, "He does have Auror reflexes after all." Snape was silent for a while before nodding and dismissing Hermione and Ana. Hermione opened her mouth to argue but Snape had already whirled around to mutter to Pomfrey again.

* * *

Two days had passed and Hermione had spent much of it in the library, satisfyingly just about completing all of her holiday homework. Fleur studied alongside her, but was still in a bit of a mood with her. Hermione looked over her book at Fleur, who was frowning slightly while scratching out some notes she was making. If Moody was tampering with the competition, that meant Fleur was in danger. Hermione couldn't just stand idly by and let Moody put Fleur or Harry in jeopardy.

Coincidentally, as she was thinking this, Pansy strode into the library, nodding at Hermione as she passed her table. Fleur noticed this and narrowed her eyes before returning to her notes. Hermione waited for Fleur to settle in to her work again before picking up a couple of books and strolling casually towards the shelves. When she was sure Fleur was well and truly immersed, she slid the books back onto their shelves and approached the desk where Pansy was sitting alone.

"So you finally got released?" Hermione whispered, and Pansy nodded.

"I've already told Ana, we're going to break into Moody's living quarters this afternoon while he's in the staff briefing about the ball." Hermione paled, but nodded. They had to find out.

"I'll be there," Hermione said softly. Pansy smirked.

"Merlin, Granger, never thought you would have the nerve… Maybe I underestimated you…"

With that Hermione rolled her eyes and returned to her desk. Fleur's eyes were still on her parchment, but as Hermione sat down, she looked up.

"Why would you be talking to 'er?" Fleur demanded icily.

"Fleur, you saw what Moody did to her, I was just checking she was okay!" Hermione replied hastily.

"Checking she was okay?" Fleur said, her eyes dangerously flashing as her temper flared, "Since when 'as she ever showed concern for your wellbeing, 'Ermione? She is a terrible person. Zis better not be about zat Moody absurdité!"

Hermione paused. She didn't want to lie to Fleur, but she equally did not want to let the Moody issue go uninvestigated.

"She's… not the worst…" Hermione said, deliberately dodging the question. Fleur snapped her books shut angrily, throwing them in her bag before storming out of the library.

"Finally blew it with her huh?" Pansy asked snidely as she joined Hermione at the table, watching Fleur leave the library.

"Shut up, Parkinson, we're on the same team for once," Hermione said, irritated.

* * *

Hermione spent the rest of her afternoon in the library steeling herself for breaking into Moody's quarters. She had already borrowed Harry's Marauder's Map, under the pretense of avoiding Slytherins giving her a hard time about Fleur. She could see Moody in his office all day, a good sign.

Pansy had gone back to the Slytherin common room to catch up with her friends after her stay in the infirmary, but would be meeting Hermione and Ana as the staff meeting began.

As the time drew closer to when the meeting would be beginning, she shut the map, slipping out of the library and looking furtively around the halls. It seemed pretty deserted. Most students must be gone for the holidays or off enjoying their free time. Hermione smiled, slipping the map into her cloak and striding down the hallway as quickly as possible.

She thankfully didn't run into a soul on her way through the halls, weaving round stairwells and corners to make it to the wing where Moody's quarters lay. She was just about at the wing that housed the staff quarters when a broom cupboard snapped open and she was roughly pulled inside.

"Oi, what the hell! Let me go!" Hermione squealed, thrashing wildly against the arms tightly grasping her. She pulled her wand out of her robe pocket, considering a hex, but opting for a quiet " _lumos._ " As the small cupboard illuminated, the arms let go, and Hermione whirled around to look at her captor.

"Fleur!" she exclaimed, coming face to face with a beautiful, but furious Veela.

"'Ermione, I 'ad 'oped you would stay out of 'arm's way," Fleur said, struggling to keep her voice even, "But when it became obvious you would not, I knew I 'ad to step in to keep you safe."

"Fleur…" Hermione said, noting the flash of anger in her girlfriend's eyes before changing tact, "You could have always come with me if you wanted to keep me safe…"

"C'est ridicule!" Fleur retorted, "We would 'ave both ended up in ze infirmary wiz shredded flesh!"

Hermione cringed, remembering how cut up Pansy had been by the sectum sempra curse. She knew better than to keep arguing with Fleur, but tried to appeal to her anyway.

"Fleur, he's in a staff meeting, its perfectly safe…" she said, trying her best to reason with Fleur. But the blonde Veela had made up her mind.

"Non." Fleur snapped, "And you are coming wiz me to ze Beauxbatons carriage so I can keep an eye on you." She took Hermione's arm tightly and led her back through the winding hallways.

* * *

Hermione spent the afternoon until dinner time intermittently being ignored by Fleur and arguing with her in her carriage room. In the end, she had to concede, it had been a risky idea to break into a professor's quarters. And, despite how unpleasant it was to be on the receiving end of Fleur's temper, it was quite romantic how protective the French witch was of her.

By the time it came to dinner, Fleur marched Hermione back to the Great Hall. With a glance at the head table that satisfied that the staff meeting was in fact over, Fleur released Hermione with a swift kiss on her cheek. Before Hermione could say anything, Fleur had swept over to join Adele and some other Beauxbatons girls. Hermione couldn't help but grin, Fleur was kind of hot when she was mad.

Hermione saw Harry and Ginny sitting at the Gryffindor table and went and sat with them. It felt like an age since she had seen them.

"Hey, 'Mione, already finished all your holiday work already I expect?" Ginny said with a smile, an arm looped through Harry's. Harry was looking sulkily down at his plate.

"So I take it you are both out and official now?" Hermione said, reaching for a pumpkin juice, "So, what's the matter, Harry?"

Harry growled and stabbed a pile of mashed potatoes violently with his fork. Ginny smiled sympathetically and looked at Hermione.

"My idiot brother," she explained, "He's gone full prat, I'm afraid. When Harry told him, he sort of snowballed into one big rage about Harry being selected as a Champion, his friends not telling him anything… He's in a right foul mindset."

"Understatement of the year," Harry said darkly, stabbing his mashed potatoes once again.

"What?" Hermione exclaimed, surprised, "But he pretty much knew! He was always quizzing you about it."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "I don't know what to tell you except this is absolutely no surprise when it comes to Ron. I'd avoid him unless you want to end up in the firing line too, 'Mione."

Hermione groaned, before changing the subject to how suspicious Moody had been acting and what had happened with Pansy at detention.

"I don't know, 'Mione," Harry said, his dark mood lifting with the change of subject, "He is a bit eccentric at the best of times…"

Ginny nodded at her boyfriend, "He's got a bit of a name for himself amongst the Order, he's always been paranoid and a bit heavy-handed. I mean, its pretty shocking that he slashed Pansy like that… but from what I've heard, not really out of character. And at least it was a deserving target…" she smirked and took a sip of pumpkin juice. Hermione frowned, unconvinced.

After dinner, Hermione looked up to find that Fleur had already swept out of the Great Hall with her Beauxbatons friends. Hermione sighed, it was clear she was going to be remaining in Fleur's bad books for the day. She gathered up her things and settled into the library, intent on finishing her holiday homework at the very least.

She had barely opened her books when there was a flurry of robes and Pansy heavily sat down at the table next to her.

"Should've known you were all talk, Granger," she spat angrily, "Hardly a shining example of Gryffindor bravery…"

"Fleur stopped me," Hermione explained weakly, "She thought it was too risky…"

"Yeah, well, she was bloody right," Pansy snapped bitterly, "We'd barely been in there one minute when Moody showed up." Hermione gasped.

"What happened? Did you get given a detention? Reported to Dumbledore? Suspended?"

Pansy shook her head, "that's the weirder thing… he didn't say a thing. Just stared at us until we ran on out of there… And now I'm just waiting for the inevitable call to a Professor's office for the punishment."

At this, Pansy glared again at Hermione, "So thanks for nothing, Granger," she hissed, before rising again and storming out of the library.

* * *

The next day, Hermione stalked carefully down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Between Fleur, Pansy, and the as-of-yet unencountered Ron, Hermione was wary of tempers running wild.

As she was moving carefully towards the doorway to the Hall, she felt a jerk on her arm and was pulled backwards. She was aware of the scent of vanilla and flowers before a familiar soft pair of lips pressed against hers.

"Fleur!" Hermione exclaimed, pulling back from the stunning French witch, "You're not mad anymore?"

Fleur smiled serenely, her blue eyes sparkling, "Non, I zink I 'ave got my point across now… All is forgotten." Hermione sighed with relief and Fleur gestured upwards, "Besides, 'ow could I deny ze 'Ogwarts décor?"

Hermione looked above their heads at a charmed mistletoe bobbing around. Hermione smiled as Fleur slipped her hand into hers and began to join her walking into the Great Hall. They were interrupted by the sound of gagging from nearby. Slytherins.

"God, get a room, Granger," Malfoy jeered, "Oh wait, if I say that you might get caught in a classroom again…"

Hermione's cheeks blushed darkly at Malfoy's reference to catching them.

"You could at least attempt to be less disgusting with your pet Veela," Pansy spat bitterly. The bad blood was evidently back between them.

Fleur frowned icily at them before pulling Hermione into the Hall.

"How unlike you to take the calm approach," Hermione remarked, smiling at her girlfriend.

"Well, I feel I 'ave 'ad enough of losing my temper over ze last few days," Fleur said dismissively, looking for a spot they could sit at over at the Gryffindor table.

"That's a shame," Hermione said quietly, "Because it was kind of hot…" She smirked at the unexpected light pink blush that brightened Fleur's cheeks as she was caught offguard. She spotted Harry and Ginny and dragged her surprised girlfriend over to the table to sit down.

"Bonjour 'Arry, Ginny," Fleur said melodically, as she looked over the selection laid out for breakfast. It was Christmas Eve and the house elves were outdoing themselves in the lead up to the big day. A range of Christmas mince pies, extravagant spreads and pastries adorned the long dining table.

"Hey, Fleur," Harry said, a little glumly. Hermione quirked an eyebrow.

"Aren't you guys excited for the Ball tomorrow night?" Hermione asked, looking at the miserable looking pair. Ginny's mouth was full with pastry but she nodded at a figure a couple of people further down the table.

Ron was sitting with Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, shoveling food into his mouth vigorously. Clearly visible on his chest was a very large _Cedric Diggory_ button, one of the buttons the Slytherins had been distributing for the Triwizard competition.

"Really, Ronald, a Cedric button?" Hermione huffed, surprised at this new level of Ron's pettiness. Ron looked down the table at her, scowling.

"Why not?" he said loudly, spitting bits of pastry over the table, "He's a good bloke… You know, honest, reliable… Someone you can _trust_." The venom was clear in his voice.

"For Merlin's sake, Ron, none of this is a surprise, not even to you," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Ron narrowed his eyes.

"Maybe not, but what is a surprise is that over the course of this year, my two best friends have become completely unrecognizable. Harry's making the moves on my _sister,_ sneaking his way into a competition without telling me, and you're carrying on with a direct competitor to Hogwarts!"

"Come on, Ron," Hermione snorted, "You don't actually see it like that do you?"

"The way I see it," Ron said, reddening and spitting more pastry from his mouth, "Is that perhaps my two friends should have been sorted into a house more fitting for their _snake-like_ behavior."

With that, Ron stood up from the table and stomped out of the Hall. Hermione sighed and looked back at Harry and Ginny who looked entirely unsurprised by this outburst.

"He's just jealous," Ginny said, rolling her eyes, "He'll stop being a prat eventually." She cleared her throat and took a sip of her coffee, looking around the table at the disgruntled looking group.

"So, are we all excited for the Ball tomorrow?" Ginny said, starting to slowly grin.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hi all, as always R &R.**

 **Side note: PLEASE consider having a go at writing/publishing your own Fleurmione fic, I really want more to read :)**

* * *

Hermione's mouth dropped open as she walked down the staircase to the awaiting Champions. Fleur was standing at the foot of the stairs, radiant. She was dressed in a long dark silver dress that clung delectably to her curves before gracefully trailing behind her on the ground. Her long silver-blonde hair was down and flowing silkily down her back. Her makeup was flawless, as expected, and her sapphire blue eyes shone as she watched Hermione descend the stairs.

"You look beautiful…" Hermione murmured as she took Fleur's waiting hand. Hermione herself was feeling a little self conscious. She had tamed her usually unruly curls into a sleek knot at her neck. She had pained over her gown, but had chosen a simple but elegant periwinkle dress for the event.

"So do you, mon amour," Fleur purred, flashing a dazzling smile that floored Hermione. They were interrupted by McGonagall clearing her throat and waving impatiently for the Champions to line up. Fleur took Hermione's arm and gracefully led them to line up.

At this point, Hermione finally became aware of the Champions outside of Fleur. Viktor was dressed elegantly in all-black dress robes, his face pale and severe as always. Harry was dressed handsomely in bottle-green dress robes that complimented his eyes. His usually untamed black hair was combed down neatly. Ginny was on his arm, also uncharacteristically groomed and clad in a deep maroon gown. Cedric was ahead of them, dressed in midnight blue dress robes matching the blue of Cho Chang's dress beside him.

The double doors to the Great Hall swung open and suddenly the Champions were striding forward proudly. Hermione glanced at Fleur. As the throngs of people shouting to look at the Champions came into sight, Fleur had resumed the aloof and cold demeanor she had when Hermione had first been paired with her in potions. She gave a cold smile as they passed Rita Skeeter, flanked by two Prophet photographers.

As the Champions reached the middle of the hall and turned to face their partners for the first dance, Fleur's ice queen exterior melted as she smiled at Hermione. She pulled Hermione close to her and began to lead as the first dance started off.

Hermione, usually level headed and realistic, suddenly felt like she was in some kind of fairy tale. While she was aware of Fleur's outrageous good looks, she had never seen Fleur dressed up to the nines for a formal event, preened and polished and somehow even more perfect. Fleur was at ease leading the dance, holding Hermione close to her and making her feel like she was the only girl in the world. It was as if all the tiffs of the previous days were long gone in this moment.

Hermione and Fleur danced together until Hermione's feet hurt, at which point Fleur obediently led them to a table before procuring them some drinks. Hermione winced at her first sip of punch.

"Gods, Fred and George really went all in on spiking the punch!" Hermione exclaimed, wrinkling her nose. Fleur laughed in her melodic way, smoothly drinking from her own goblet.

"Do you want to go and talk to your friends?" Fleur asked. They had already stopped several times on their way to find a table in order for Fleur to converse with various Beauxbatons girls. Hermione looked around. The only person she could see nearby that she was somewhat friendly with was Ron. He was sitting with his arms folded over some truly hideous frilly dress robes, glaring around the room. Clearly he was still having problems with his jealousy. Hermione shook her head, pushing the too-strong drink away from her with a hint of disgust. It tasted like Fred and George had put a dash of every type of alcohol they could think of into the punch, it was not a good mix.

Fleur finished her goblet in one quick motion and smiled somewhat devilishly at Hermione. "Well, shall we go and enjoy ze fresh air?" she asked sweetly, placing a perfectly manicured hand on Hermione's knee. Hermione did not need much convincing and nodded dumbly, feeling like one of the drooling idiots that often got hit by Fleur's thrall.

They had barely got outside when Fleur tugged at Hermione's hand and led them off the well lit path and into the shrubbery of the Hogwarts grounds. Judging from the faint rustling and giggles coming from elsewhere in the dark, they were not the only couple out there. Fleur grabbed Hermione behind the head, pulling her in to a deep kiss. Hermione's hands instantly tangled into Fleur's impossibly silky hair before roaming their way down her body. She pulled away breathlessly, looking at Fleur's darkened sapphire eyes. "I've been wanting to do that all night," Hermione murmured, before pushing Fleur against a tree. She kissed her deeply again before moving to kiss lightly down Fleur's neck. A small moan escaped Fleur's lips and Hermione felt herself getting wet with excitement for her.

Suddenly a blood curdling scream ripped through the garden and Hermione leapt apart from Fleur. There was something terrifyingly familiar about that scream.

"Ginny!" Hermione yelped, pulling out her wand as the recognition swept over her. Fleur produced her wand too, following closely behind her as they followed the direction of the scream. They pushed through a few trees before they came to a small gap behind some bushes. There they found Harry, pale and holding his lit wand up. His other arm was wrapped tightly around Ginny, whose face was contorted with horror. In front of them on the ground, lit ominously by Harry's wand, was the body of Ana.

"Its ze Bulgarian from detention!" Fleur exclaimed in horror, grabbing Hermione's arm to pull her back from the body.

"She's…" Hermione couldn't finish the sentence.

"-Dead. Yeah." Harry nodded grimly. He looked like he was in total shock.

"W-we need to get someone. Now!" Hermione stuttered, her mind suddenly kicking in. She pulled Fleur by the hand towards the entrance of Hogwarts.

"Wait! Don't leave us here with the body!" Ginny squealed, dragging Harry after her as she followed them closely.

As soon as the four of them stumbled into the entrance they ran straight into Karkaroff, the Head of Durmstrang.

"Karkaroff! Erm, I mean, sir!" Harry shouted, frantically getting the older wizard's attention. He whirled to face them, his brow furrowed and his mouth twisted into a dissatisfied frown.

"Ana, from Durmstrang… she…" Hermione began before trailing off again.

"She's dead, sir!" Harry finished for her. Karkaroff raised an eyebrow.

"Dead? Ana? Vhy on earth vould you say such a thing?" he asked, his expression frustratingly neutral.

"Because we found her body, sir!" Harry shouted, balling his hands into fists.

"Show me," Karkaroff demanded, again in a neutral tone. The group ran back out of the castle and back to the gardens, illuminating their wands. Karkaroff followed them silently.

"Here—" Harry started loudly before his jaw fell open. In the exact spot where Ana had been mere minutes before, there was now nothing but a small twig. Karkaroff stood beside him, not looking angry, but still looking neutral.

"You vere sure she vas here?" he asked, scratching his beard with a long pale finger.

"She was! I swear, sir!" Harry said, his voice raising even further.

"Vell… I vill follow up on her vhereabouts… but until ve can find this… body… ve are unable to assume she is dead, Potter." With that strange comment, he turned on his heel and whipped away into the night.

Ginny was still trembling a little at the shock of the night and Harry wrapped his arms around her again. Hermione squeezed Fleur's hand tightly, turning to look at her with horror.

"Ana and Pansy were caught by Moody breaking into his quarters," she said, her eyes widening with fear. Fleur narrowed her eyes, thinking.

"Surely not, 'Mione!" Harry exclaimed, but even he looked like he was starting to get a little suspicious.

"Do you zink Pansy 'as suffered a similar fate?" Fleur asked quietly as the group began to walk slowly back to the castle. However, no sooner had they got inside the castle when they immediately ran into a small group of Slytherins.

"Pansy!" Hermione shouted with relief. Pansy looked quizzically at her, Crabbe and Goyle flanking her. Pansy nodded at the other two Slytherins and approached Hermione and the others solo.

"What on Earth is it, Granger?" Pansy spat, looking thoroughly put out.

"We just found Ana's dead body in the bushes outside!" Hermione hissed, "Then when we tried to show Karkaroff, her body had disappeared."

Pansy looked at the grim faces of the others standing with Hermione before her eyes widened with shock.

"You think Moody…?" she whispered. Hermione looked around the entranceway, unnerved.

"I think at the very least you should be very careful," Hermione muttered quietly. Pansy nodded seriously at them and then turned to rejoin Crabbe and Goyle.

"Hey, 'Mione, Ginny is still shaken up, we're gonna head back to the common room," Harry said, his arm still squeezing Ginny protectively. Ginny's face was still deathly pale.

Hermione nodded before turning to face Fleur. Fleur looked deep in thought and serious.

"'Ermione, please stay with me tonight," she said quietly, "I am not sure exactly what is going on, but until we know more I want to keep you close."

* * *

The next day at breakfast it was announced that Ana Marinov had officially gone missing. However, students were urged not to panic as Karkaroff assured that this was not the first time Ana had run away from school as although she was a talented witch, she was frequently in trouble.

Hermione squeezed Fleur's hand as she looked across the Gryffindor table to an equally somber looking Harry and Ginny. At that moment the morning mail came flying in across the hall, a welcome distraction from the bad news.

A small barn owl landed heavily in front of Fleur, almost flipping her plate in its eagerness to extend its leg. An identical small owl landed messily in Harry's toast before clambering forward to offer its letter to Harry. Fleur raised both eyebrows as she unfurled the message from the small owl.

"Ze second challenge… It is in two days!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening with surprise.

Harry was paling as he read his identical letter. Hermione smiled at them both encouragingly.

"Well it's a good thing that you both figured out the clue well before now!" she said, trying to keep them both positive.

Within minutes, Madame Maxime stomped over to the Gryffindor table, placing a large hand tightly on Fleur's shoulder.

"Fleur," Maxime bellowed, "Dépêchez-vous, we do not 'ave much time to prepare!"

And with that she had wrenched Fleur from the table and marched her quickly out of the Great Hall. Harry swallowed heavily and pushed his feathery toast away from himself. He had officially lost his appetite.

"Hermione… You've gotta help me learn how to breathe underwater in the next two days…" he said hoarsely.

Hermione opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by an owl dropping a _Daily Prophet_ in front of her on the table.

"I wonder what they have said about Ana disappearing at the Yule Ball…" she muttered distractedly as she unfurled the paper. "Oh, Merlin…" she groaned as she saw the headline.

 _"_ _Potter's Girlfriend Attempts to Take Out the Competition_

 _Hermione Granger, the frequent date of Triwizard Champion Harry Potter, arrived at the Yule Ball on the arm of the promiscuous Veela competitor from Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour. Ms. Granger appears to be playing Delacour at her own game to garner inside knowledge from the Veela competitor. This reporter also has inside knowledge that a close friend of Durmstrang competitor Viktor Krum has gone missing, shortly after having served a detention with Granger. We can only hope that Cedric avoids the foul play running rampant in this competition… more on page 5."_

Hermione threw the paper down disgustedly.

"You really need to just cancel your subscription, 'Mione," said Ginny, frowning at the headline. Hermione sighed heavily, taking a violent bite out of her toast.

* * *

The next day and a half Hermione barely saw the light of day. She holed up in a corner of the library with Harry and Ginny, helping Harry flick through thick volumes of books on underwater magic.

Fleur was noticeably absent, spending all her time following a grueling last minute schedule Madame Maxime had hit her with. Hermione was confident her girlfriend had prepared well for the task though, as she had put in a lot of study around the time she was working out the egg's clue.

Harry, on the other hand, was relying on his classic "wing it" mentality, finally settling on gillyweed as his method of breathing underwater. However, he had decided that he would steal some from Snape's stocks closer to the time of the competition. Hermione rolled her eyes at that. It was no doubt set to be as nailbiting as waiting for his firebolt to be summoned in the first challenge.

This afternoon, Hermione was re-reading _Hogwarts: A History_ for probably the hundredth time, focusing on the chapter about the aquatic life in the lake.

"Harry, you should be fine," she said in a pleased tone, flipping through the pages, "I mean as long as you avoid the Giant Squid there shouldn't be any creatures too dangerous in there. Nothing we didn't encounter in Hagrid or Lupin's classes."

Harry nodded distractedly, scratching down some messy notes on stunning spells effectiveness underwater.

Hermione was pleased that Moody hadn't approached Harry at all during his preparation. Pansy was still rolling her eyes around the school too. So either Moody was lying low after whatever he did to Ana, or he really was just an eccentric Auror and Ana had been attacked by someone else.

Whatever the case, Hermione was relieved that for now, Harry only had one life-threatening situation to focus his efforts on.

By the time it was dinnertime the night before the Second Task, Harry was feeling confident enough to regain his appetite. He chattered happily to Ginny and Hermione at the table, ignoring Ron's glares from further down the Gryffindor table.

Hermione was halfway through her meal when a rushed silver-blonde blur landed next to her at the Gryffindor table.

"'Ermione, don't look at me, I am 'ideous," Fleur moaned dramatically, "I didn't 'ave time to shower before coming to see you."

Hermione laughed loudly. Fleur was just as radiant, if not more so, with a slight pink glow on her cheeks from working out and a slight sheen of dewy sweat across her forehead. Her long mane was tied back in a tangled ponytail that somehow still managed to look elegant. She grabbed a goblet of water and drank deeply as Hermione admired the rare sighting of her girlfriend.

"Are you feeling ready for tomorrow, Fleur?" Hermione asked, reaching to touch the small of Fleur's back lightly.

"Merde, if Madame Maxime does not finish me off with zis regime first!" Fleur exclaimed, waving a hand in frustration. She pulled a bowl of soup towards herself and began gracefully sipping the soup at pace.

"I cant wait until this challenge is over and we can properly spend time together again," Hermione sighed, watching the alarming speed at which Fleur was consuming her soup. Fleur had already finished about half of the bowl when she put down her spoon.

"Ah, mon amour, I cannot wait eizer," she purred, "but for now I must leave for the final preparations before tomorrow."

"Already?" Hermione exclaimed in surprise, "You only just got here!"

"Je suis désolé," Fleur flashed her an apologetic smile before kissing her on the cheek and quickly getting up out of her seat, "Good luck for tomorrow 'Arry," she added, before breezing out of the Hall.

"Well, I guess we should probably get back to prepping too…" Harry said nervously, scratching the back of his neck. Evidently, Maxime's heavy training of Fleur was enough to push him back into nervousness.

Hermione nodded, rising from the table with Ginny and Harry and heading towards the doorway of the Great Hall.

"Ah, Ms. Granger, Ms. Weasley," Professor McGonagall said cheerily, appearing in front of the trio suddenly, "Would you be so kind as to accompany me to my office?"

The girls flashed Harry apologetic looks and he nodded before heading off in the direction of the library alone, somewhat dejected.

When Hermione and Ginny arrived in McGonagall's office, they found four chairs pushed in front of her desk. Two of them were already occupied. Cho was in one seat and beside her was a small, wiry dark haired boy of about 12 years old.

"Right," McGonagall said, clapping her hands together, "You four are about to become part of the Second Task," she began, drawing four small tumblers out of a desk drawer.

* * *

Hermione awoke with a dizzying abruptness. She was cold, wet and shivering. She was aware of a hard ground beneath her, that she was lying on her back, looking up at the grey sky.

Suddenly a mop of black hair burst into her sight. "'Mione! The task is over! You're okay," Harry said, drawing a towel over her numb limbs. Hermione sat up, wondering vaguely if a warming charm had been cast on the fluffy white towel Harry had thrown over her. Ginny was kneeling beside Harry, smiling with relief at Hermione waking up. Both Harry and Ginny were wearing fluffy bathrobes and looked like they were still warming up too.

"W-where's Fleur?" Hermione chattered as Harry handed her a bathrobe as well. A pang of panic shot through her chest as she noticed Harry and Ginny exchange serious looks.

"Is she okay? She should have been able to handle anything in the lake easily!" Hermione said, her voice becoming a little shrill with fear. She looked around wildly. Viktor was nursing a bandaged arm nearby next to the young Dumstrang boy. Cedric was cuddling Cho nearby. Past them was a large crowd of mediwizards and French students and staff.

"Hermione," Harry said softly, putting a hand on her arm. It was partly to calm her and partly to stop her from running and breaking through the crowd to see Fleur. "Something went wrong… Fleur was attacked by a horned serpent… Dumbledore said they're not even native to this area. Someone must have tampered with the lake and put it in there…"

"Is she okay?!" Hermione shrieked, trying to pull against Harry's arm to run to the crowd. She wanted to pull all the mediwizards and bystanders aside and pull Fleur into her arms. She wanted to see Fleur.

Ginny placed a hand on Hermione's other arm, speaking in a calm voice, "They're doing the best they can, Hermione,"

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," Harry said, his voice wavering, "I froze. The serpent came right at me but somehow ignored me and attacked her. I tried to stop it and help her but she still got really hurt…"

Hermione shook Harry and Ginny off her before she stumbled to her feet, clumsy with the cold, wrapping her bathrobe around her. Professor McGonagall hurried over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Ms. Granger, are you okay?" she asked, her mouth thin with concern. Hermione wanted nothing but to shove McGonagall to one side and run to Fleur, but she knew this was her chance to address the escalating horrors in the tournament.

"Yes," Hermione said, keeping her voice steady and deliberate, "But we need to talk about Professor Moody."


	17. Chapter 17

Hermione strode out of McGonagall's office, slamming the door behind her as hard as she could. She flinched at the sheer volume of the slam, somewhat regretful about acting out, but then her mind turned to how McGonagall had refused to even hear a bad word about Moody. She had treated Hermione as if she was Harry spouting theories about Snape. Honestly, Hermione had expected McGonagall to trust her judgment more.

She leaned against a cold stone wall exhaling loudly, running her hands through her bushy hair. She supposed she would just have to catch Moody red-handed. Was there ever going to be a year at this school where she wasn't roped into dangerous situations to save those around her?

Her mind turned to Fleur, panic panging in her stomach again, and she leapt off the wall and rushed off to the hospital wing. Thankfully, when she got there, the crowd that had surrounded Fleur were nowhere in sight. There was a screen up around where she presumed Fleur's bed was, judging by the head and shoulders of Maxime protruding above the screen.

Maxime was scowling and nearing the end of a tirade in French. Hermione cringed as she thought she heard the word "embarrassment" and "Beauxbatons." Mercifully, Madam Pomfrey interrupted, whipping across the room and disappearing behind the screen before emerging with Maxime, who she was sternly telling off.

"The girl needs her _rest_ ," Pomfrey said firmly, ushering Maxime to the door, "I mean for Merlin's sake, she just about died!"

Maxime looked reluctant before spotting Dumbledore sweeping through the hall outside.

"Dumblydorr!" Maxime bellowed, "My champion was almost killed! Zere is clearly cheating going on!"

With that she stormed out of the room, leaving a relieved looking Madam Pomfrey who now turned to Hermione.

"Miss Granger, what brings you here?" she asked, suspiciously eying her.

"Erm, I need to see Fleur," Hermione started. Madam Pomfrey's face softened.

"Well as long as you can promise not to bombard Miss Delacour with stress—she really needs to rest up."

Hermione nodded and lightly sprinted off to the screened off bed. Her hands shook as she reached to pull back the curtain, unsure of what she would find. As she pulled it back, relief washed over her as she found Fleur peacefully lying on the bed, her eyes shut.

Her silver-blonde hair was loose and fanned around her. Her impossibly long and dark eyelashes flickering slightly as she took a pained breath. She was wearing a hospital gown that was horrifyingly stained with blood. But Hermione was relieved to see that despite a few bandages on her arms and legs, Fleur was unmarked.

Madam Pomfrey burst in behind Hermione, distastefully eying the stained gown. With a whip of her wand it was cleaned quickly.

"Sorry, I was just in the middle of cleaning her up when her Headmistress barged in," Pomfrey explained before a proud look crept across her features, "But as you can see, almost all her wounds have been healed—and those that haven't will be soon."

Fleur's eyes opened reluctantly at the sound of voices. She look exhausted, her face was drained of colour and her pretty face twisted with pain as she struggled to pull herself into a sitting position.

"Miss Delacour, dear, take it easy," Pomfrey clucked disapprovingly, "Now you just need to take this dose of Skele-Grow and I will be out of your hair."

Fleur nodded, her jaw clenched, but she accepted the small vial of potion that Pomfrey handed her. With that, Madam Pomfrey bustled out of the curtained area again.

Hermione immediately closed the distance between them and grabbed Fleur's hand. Sapphire blue eyes fixed on her and Fleur gave a weak smile.

"Fleur! I was so terrified for you!" Hermione gasped, squeezing Fleur's hand.

"Careful, I 'ave 'ad enough injuries for one day," Fleur said, chuckling quietly and squeezing Hermione's hand back.

"Fleur, I think maybe Moody was behind this… Remember we saw him acting weirdly around the lake when we had detention?" Fleur raised her eyebrows, digesting this information.

"But why me? Ze creature did not 'arm 'Arry…" Fleur asked, her voice a little alarmed.

"That's what I don't know… I have no idea what he's up to. I mean, what's it to him who wins the Tournament? Big gambling money maybe?" Hermione ran a hand through her hair. It didn't sound right. She looked at Fleur, the usually aloof and strong woman, lying weakly in bed.

"Fleur, can't you just leave the competition?" Hermione asked, her voice laced with concern, "I don't like to think about what could have happened if today had gone any differently."

Fleur sighed, shutting her eyes briefly, "It is a magical contract, I could not leave if I wanted to."

Hermione bit her lip. Of course, the same way Harry was trapped in the competition. This was all so unfair. She let go of Fleur's hand, whirling around to glare angrily at the curtain.

"What kind of a competition would lock TEENAGERS into a situation where they could DIE? Why would Madame Maxime think that right after you almost died would be a good time to have a go at you? Why aren't your parents here to support you? Why is this so unfair?!"

She panted, having run out of breath with her sudden tirade. She took in a deep breath, turning to face Fleur again. She was surprised to see Fleur smiling, her sapphire eyes twinkling.

"You… you really care about me, 'Ermione…" she murmured. Hermione blushed.

"I-I mean of course I do! You're my girlfriend. Of course I care about you. In fact, I…" she trailed off suddenly, her Gryffindor bravery momentarily deserting her. It was way too soon and way too inappropriate a situation to tell Fleur that she felt that strongly. She let the silence hang.

Fleur reached out and took her hand again. Her long, graceful fingers were cold to the touch.

"Je t'aime, 'Ermione," she murmured. Hermione's stomach jerked heavily, her heart felt like it was about to leap up through her throat. She opened her mouth to summon a reply when she was interrupted by Madam Pomfrey wrenching the curtain back again.

"Miss Granger, this girl has not had a moment of rest and visiting hours are now over. Its time to go, you can come and see your friend tomorrow." Pomfrey said curtly, perching her hands on her hips and setting in to wait.

Hermione shot Fleur an apologetic look, squeezing her hand. Fleur did look sleepy but she also looked sad to see Hermione leave so soon. Hermione leant in and kissed Fleur quickly on the lips, blushing heavily as she turned to see Madam Pomfrey's look of astonishment.

* * *

Hermione didn't go to the Great Hall for meals that day. She left the hospital wing and went directly to the library to read up on aurors, horned serpents, anything that could de-mystify what was going on. Eventually, she walked back to the Gryffindor common room, accepting her temporary defeat. It was very late in the evening now and she was feeling stiff from being perched in a library chair all day.

"Barley sugar," she muttered to the Fat Lady, who graciously swung to admit her into the common room.

She climbed in to find the fireplace beginning to die out, the common room empty except for two Gryffindors. Harry and Ginny stood up as Hermione entered, evidently they had been waiting.

"Blimey, 'Mione! I haven't seen you all day! I was beginning to think Fleur had died or you'd gone off to hunt down the serpent or something!" Harry exclaimed, running a shaking hand through his messy shock of black hair.

Ginny ran up and hugged Hermione, "Is everything okay?"

Hermione released herself from Ginny's embrace, wandering over to throw herself heavily into the couch behind the couple.

"I think Moody is actively trying to fix the Tournament somehow," she sighed, "But nobody except Pansy and Fleur seems to believe me… I feel like I'm going crazy."

"Hermione," Harry said, taking a seat next to her on the couch, "You're not going crazy. We saw Ana's body too, remember? And while I'm surprised that it could be Moody behind this, given what I've heard about him, I know you like to be sure about your hunches. I trust you, Hermione."

Ginny sat on the other side of Hermione, "But I don't get it… _Why_ would he go around trying to kill students?"

"One big insane Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson?" Harry shrugged, "He did use the Unforgiveable Curses on spiders in class the other day… He's pretty intense."

"Yeah, but its not random Harry, he had that weird intense talk with Cedric, then took out Ana after he caught her snooping in his quarters… Now he's tried to kill one of the Champions."

The trio were silent for a while. "We'll figure this out, Hermione," Harry said quietly.

* * *

It took a few days, but finally Fleur was released from the hospital wing. By then, all bandages were removed and she was able to move about without pain. Hermione lit up at the sight of her girlfriend gliding into the Great Hall for lunch. She was, predictably, swarmed by Beauxbatons classmates hugging and greeting her. Hermione smiled and turned back to her plate.

"I just never thought you would be the one to go for a Miss Popular type of girl," Ginny murmured, watching Fleur flip her sheet of silver-blonde hair and chat animatedly to her friends in French near the door. "I mean what do you guys even talk about?"

Hermione sighed, fixing Ginny with an exasperated look. "Gin, we've talked about this. There's more to her. She's actually quite intelligent and very into her studies."

Ginny's look of curiosity quirked into a smirk, "Should've known that's the only way someone could win over Hermione Granger."

Hermione threw a piece of toast at her, chuckling. She was relieved that for the most part, Ginny had stopped acting like a dick now that she wasn't feeling terrible about her relationship with Harry. Now if only Ron could stop wildly swinging back and forth with his support for his friends…

Harry ambled over and sat next to Ginny. He was followed to the table shortly after by Fleur, who had disentangled herself from her schoolmates to come and sit next to Hermione. She kissed Hermione lightly on the cheek before selecting an apple very carefully from a fruit bowl.

"So I've discovered something off about Moody…" Harry said, heaping eggs onto his plate.

"What? Besides taking out students?" Ginny snorted, reaching for her cup of tea. Harry eagerly spooned some eggs into his mouth, chewing quickly before pulling out a battered piece of parchment.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he muttered over the parchment, and the Marauders Map revealed itself. He swallowed his mouthful and unfolded it for the girls at the table.

"See, so we can see Moody up at the faculty table," Harry said, and they all glanced up to look at Moody talking to Hagrid.

"Yeah, but its not like we could find his name in here anyway," Ginny said, pointing to the squashed and overlapping names of everyone in the Great Hall on the map.

"See that's where you're wrong," Harry re-folded the map to reveal another section, "It says he's in his office right now. And on my way here, I knocked and, erm, unlocked his office to check… and nobody was in there!"

"Harry!" Hermione gasped. Fleur smirked at her admonishing Harry for the very thing she had done so recently.

"I mean, that's weird right?" Harry bowled on, intentionally ignoring Hermione's chastising, "I mean at first I thought it was a Pettigrew situation, that maybe he was an animagus, but then I saw him in here… How can you be in two places at once? A time turner maybe?"

Hermione shook her head, "Surely not, they're very heavily regulated. McGonagall had to pull strings to get me the one I had in third year."

Ginny furrowed her brow in thought before burrowing into her breakfast some more.

"So, feeling back in fighting shape, Fleur?" Harry asked, changing the subject. Fleur frowned.

"Ah, well, I still 'ave another week until Madame Maxime makes me resume my training regime," she said, clearly not thrilled at the prospect.

"Aw, mate," Harry sympathized, dabbing a piece of bread into an egg yolk, "I mean I'd offer to train with you instead but…"

"…Madame Maxime would never let me," Fleur smiled knowingly, "It is okay, at ze very least it keeps me in shape and looking good for my girlfriend." Harry smirked at the sudden blush that rose on Hermione's cheeks.

"Erm, well, in the meantime we could all study good defensive and offensive magic in the library," Hermione said, trying in vain to will the blush from her face. "I mean Hagrid is already growing a great big hedge maze out on the Quidditch pitch, and Merlin knows they love to notify you last minute about when the next Task is."

Fleur looked enthused. Harry looked considerably less excited about spending time in the library studying, but nonetheless looked grateful for the help.

* * *

The next week crawled by with Hermione, Ginny, Harry and Fleur spending much of their time holed up in the library studying.

By the time they were nearing the end of the week, they had covered off a lot of good defensive magic and were flying their way through volumes on magical creatures. No doubt with Hagrid growing the maze, there were likely to be some truly nasty creatures hidden in its depths.

Harry closed a large volume heavily, rubbing his forehead with his palm. Beside him, Ginny yawned heavily. The small group were the only ones left in the library as it was close to one in the morning. "Shall we head to bed, Gin?" Harry asked, trying and failing to smooth his wild hair.

"Yeah, sounds ace," Ginny said, stifling another yawn.

"How on Earth do you two manage to sneak to bed together?" Hermione asked, surprise evident on her face. She hadn't even dreamed of trying to sneak Fleur into the Gryffindor dormitories. Between the Fat Lady and the constantly interrupting girls she shared a room with, it seemed like a doomed mission.

Ginny went beet red, "I mean, we're not, erm, doing _that._ At least, ah, not yet…" Harry's face was starting to flush with pink too.

"Ah, we go to the Room of Requirement so we can spend the night… cuddling," Harry whispered the last word, his face darkening even more with a blush. Hermione and Fleur exchanged smiles. Harry really was quite cute with Ginny.

At that, Harry awkwardly cleared his throat and packed up his things, a now purple Ginny following suit.

"Well, uh, see ya tomorrow…" Harry mumbled, and skulked out of the library hand in hand with Ginny.

"Zey are quite adorable," Fleur giggled, watching them leave. She began to pack her own things up and walked into the library shelves to return a book. She had scarcely placed it onto the shelf when she was pushed roughly against the shelf, feeling a familiar body pressing against her back.

"You're quite adorable," Hermione whispered, her breath a little uneven. She ran her hands over Fleur's body, enjoying the shiver it elicited from the older girl.

"Zis is quite ze role reversal from when we first began spending time together in the library…" Fleur whispered breathily.

Hermione pulled her long silver-blonde hair to one side, baring Fleur's soft and delicate neck. She pushed her hips against Fleur's ass, feeling the familiar thrill of having Fleur's perfect body pressed against her. She began kissing lightly on Fleur's neck, before nipping at the skin with her teeth. Fleur let out a low moan.

Hermione stepped back, turning Fleur around before pressing her against the shelf again. She kissed her deeply, exploring Fleur's mouth with her tongue. One of her hands tangled its way into Fleur's silky hair, the other running down Fleur's body. She moved to kiss along Fleur's jawline and back to her neck, noting Fleur's breathing becoming more ragged.

"'Ermione…" Fleur whispered, and Hermione sucked on her neck playfully.

"I know these uniforms are impractical… but Merlin you look so good in it, Fleur," Hermione murmured into Fleur's neck, her voice thick with desire. Fleur let out another small moan as Hermione's hand made its way up her skirt. She smiled into Fleur's neck as she felt the wetness soaking through Fleur's underwear. She moved her hand up to the waistband of the underwear, pulling them down painfully slowly, all the way down to Fleur's knees. Fleur let out a quiet string of expletives in French as Hermione's hand slowly brushed against the inside of her thighs as it returned to her centre.

She rubbed Fleur in a careful rhythm, kissing along her jawline and back to her mouth. Fleur's back began to arch and Hermione slid her fingers inside her. Fleur let out another moan and Hermione was silently grateful that Madam Pince had left her careful guard of the library earlier in the evening.

"You like that?" Hermione whispered into Fleur's ear before nipping at her earlobe. She was thrusting her fingers deep inside Fleur with a steady rhythm and the blonde witch was writhing in ecstasy against Hermione.

"Oui," Fleur gasped, before finishing with a great shudder. Hermione smiled, giving her girlfriend a quick kiss on the lips.

"Pansy," Fleur suddenly blurted, and Hermione fixed her with a confused and outraged look.

"That is literally the last thing I would want you to say at this moment," Hermione said, frowning, before noticing that Fleur was looking over her shoulder with a mortified expression on her face. Hermione pulled her hand back out from under Fleur's skirt as if she had been burned, leaping away from the other girl to turn and face the intruder.

"Pansy! Er, how long have you been there for?" Hermione exclaimed, as Fleur hastily pulled her underwear back up.

Pansy looked shell-shocked, her face bright red and eyes wide, "Uh, well, ah, I came to the library, erm, looking f-for you Granger…" she stammered, her eyes roaming around the bookshelves, the floor, anywhere except at Fleur and Hermione.

Fleur was now running her hands through her long silver-blonde hair, smoothing out the tangles and fixing her default aloof expression on her face.

"Qu'est-ce que tu veux," Fleur said coldly, although the unconscious switch to her native language revealed she was still thrown off by Pansy being there.

"F-fuck, what a fucking night," Pansy muttered, shaking her head and finally looking at Hermione and Fleur.

Hermione folded her arms and cocked her head to one side, "So I take it you didn't come here for voyeuristic reasons?"

"How was I supposed to know that you would be doing that?! I didn't even know for sure that you would be in the library this late! God, Draco really wasn't exaggerating about what he said he walked in on in that classroom…" Pansy exclaimed, her blush darkening.

Hermione sighed, looking from the squirming Pansy to the overly stiff Fleur. The awkwardness in the room could be cut with a knife. Pansy looked incapable of saying anything other than stammering rants.

"Fleur, how about you go pack up our things at the desk," Hermione said finally. Fleur looked relieved to have an out from the situation and nodded primly at Hermione before gliding out of the row of bookshelves. Pansy visibly relaxed, she shook her head as if clearing it.

"Granger, I-I think Moody tried to kill me," Pansy muttered. Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"What happened?" she asked, surprised Pansy was alive to tell the tale. After Ana and Fleur, it seemed Moody went all in with his attempts on students' lives.

"I got back to the common room and someone had left me a bottle of wine with a bow on it. Naturally, one of the Slytherin boys had swiped it before I got back…. And he's in St Mungo's, Granger. They're not sure he's gonna make it…" her voice was shaking.

"Did you tell them about Moody?" Hermione asked. Pansy shook her head.

"I tried, but they're already insistent that it has to be a student who knew the password to the Slytherin common room."

"Merlin," Hermione muttered, running a hand through her bushy curls.

"Granger…" Pansy began, before trailing off awkwardly.

"Yeah?" Hermione nodded for Pansy to continue.

"I'm… I'm scared to go back to the Slytherin dormitories. I mean, he got into the common room… who's to say…"

Hermione nodded, "maybe you can crash on the floor in Fleur's room with us… I'll have to ask her though."

Pansy let out a shaky breath, a blush returning to her cheeks, "Merlin, you gotta let me know when she dumps your ass…" she murmured.

"Okay, well she will definitely say no if you keep acting like… like such a Slytherin creep towards her! Gods, Pansy."

"Sorry, Granger… she's just… Delacour is really hot," she said awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck and looking at the ground.

Hermione smirked, folding her arms, "I'm well aware of that, Pansy, but that doesn't mean you can go around harassing her."

Pansy put her hands over her face, letting out a groan, "Okay, I know I've been a dick… I just… Its so overwhelming having feelings for _girls_ you know?"

Hermione sighed, "its okay, Parkinson, I know more than most how overwhelming it all is… But you've gotta start dealing with it instead of taking it out on people."

"Merlin, you're such a fucking Gryffindor," Pansy said, rolling her eyes. The girls walked together back out of the bookshelves. Fleur had packed up all of their things and was sitting patiently on the desk, playing with her hair.

"Everything okay?" Fleur asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah… Pansy needs to stay with us tonight though," Hermione said. Fleur's eyes widened and she looked from Hermione to Pansy and back again.

"Zis is a joke, oui?"

"No, I'm serious, Fleur. Can she stay over?"

"Excusez-moi? Is she trying to get you on board with one of 'er latest sleazy approaches?" Fleur said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously and looking at Pansy.

"Delacour… About that, I'm sorry for being a total creep." Pansy said, looking genuine and free of malice.

"Moody tried to kill her tonight, Fleur. He got poison into the Slytherin dormitory and everything." Hermione reasoned. Fleur nodded gravely.

"All right zen," she agreed. She slung her satchel over her shoulder and handed Hermione hers, hopping gracefully off the desk. "But you are sleeping on ze floor, Parkinson."

Pansy nodded and fell into step with the other two girls.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Hi all, thank you for your kind reviews and thanks to all those who have messaged me Fleurmione recommendations :D I don't know how I would get through the stress at work without some fluffy fanfic goodness!**

* * *

Hermione was already regretting letting Pansy stay. They hadn't even been in Fleur's room for ten minutes and the Slytherin was already rolling her eyes at the ornate décor of the French carriage.

Fleur emerged from her ensuite in her nightgown, lazily waving her wand at a chair to transfigure it into a mattress.

"Nice," Pansy murmured. Fleur smiled and turned to find her hairbrush. Hermione glared when she saw that Pansy was looking at Fleur's long bare legs with appreciation and not the transfigured mattress.

"Parkinson," she hissed, swatting Pansy with a hand, "Stop acting like a 13 year-old boy or you're on your own in the Slytherin dormitories tonight."

"Sorry," she muttered back quietly.

Fleur turned around, brushing her hair rhythmically, "So 'ow are we going to stop Monsieur Moody if we cannot catch 'im in ze act?"

"If only it was as easy as it is to catch you guys in the act," Pansy smirked. Fleur looked incredibly awkward and focused extra hard on brushing her hair. Hermione blushed and cleared her throat.

"We just have to find _some_ way to catch him in the act," Hermione said, shifting awkwardly. Fleur nodded, putting down her brush and gliding across the room to her wardrobe.

Hermione rose and went to the ensuite to get changed. Fleur rummaged in her wardrobe before tossing a pillow at Pansy, followed by a blanket, a tee and some boxers.

"Thanks, Delacour," Pansy said, setting up the pillow and blanket on her little mattress.

"It is not a problem," Fleur said formally, closing the wardrobe doors with a snap.

Hermione returned to the room and hopped into bed, oblivious to the tension between her girlfriend and the Slytherin. Pansy got up and went into the bathroom to change. Fleur climbed into bed beside Hermione, looking sulky.

"Come on, Fleur," Hermione cooed softly, "Underneath all her smirking she is really scared,"

Fleur just pouted and shuffled down the bed to wrap her arms around Hermione's waist. Hermione put a protective arm around the blonde goddess' shoulder, pulling her closely against her.

Pansy came back out of the bathroom, eying the couple cuddling in bed. "Damn, Granger, you really do get all the luck," she muttered as she made her way to her little mattress.

Fleur let out a muffled sound of disapproval into Hermione's neck, where she was nuzzling her face.

"It's a compliment, Fleur," Hermione whispered softly, trying to calm the infamous temper of Fleur before it reared its head again.

Fleur briefly sat up for a moment to gesture the lights in her room out before nestling back into Hermione's arms. Hermione settled into the darkness with the French beauty in her arms, feeling completely content and safe. Before long, snuffled snores indicated Pansy had drifted off to sleep. Hermione let out a light gasp as Fleur's hand slipped quietly past her waistband and down the front of her boxers. She felt the light touch of soft kisses from Fleur and stifled a moan. The last thing she wanted was to be caught yet again in the act.

"Fleur…" she hissed disapprovingly.

She could feel Fleur's smirk against her neck as her hand reached felt her obvious wetness. This girl was going to be the death of her. Fleur's fingers moved skillfully and Hermione found her arching her back, biting down on her fist to silence herself. But Fleur was nothing but competitive, and she doubled her efforts to challenge Hermione, grinding her perfect body up against Hermione's side as her fingers worked. Hermione let out a muffled moan and shuddered, unable to take it anymore. Fleur knew just how to make her come quickly. They settled back into each other's arms, sleep taking them over.

* * *

The next morning, they awoke to the tapping at Fleur's window. Hermione opened her eyes, taking in a sleepy Fleur reluctantly waking t.

Hermione got up and went to the window, letting in a small barn owl who deposited the paper and took off again. Hermione turned round to see Fleur looking distastefully at Pansy's mattress, already empty.

"Wi'out even a zank you," Fleur said with a frown before turning to Hermione with an expectant look on her face, "Any letters?"

"Just the _Prophet,_ " Hermione replied, noting the disappointment on Fleur's face, "Why?"

"I sent my parents a photograph of you and I at ze Ball wiz a letter about 'ow I 'ave been going in ze competition," Fleur said sadly, "But zey are busy, often too busy to reply to letters."

Hermione jumped back in bed, wrapping Fleur in her arms and giving her a kiss. But Fleur had already characteristically replaced her sadness with a carefully unreadable expression, and reached to unfurl the paper.

The front page was littered with scandalizing headlines on the Triwizard Tournament and Hogwarts.

 _"Another gravely injured student at Hogwarts as Tournament continues…"_ was one headline, with a moving photo showing mediwitches bundling what was presumably the Slytherin boy out of the grounds.

 _"Ana Marinov's Aunt Demands Answers on Disappearance"_ was accompanied by a photo of a frazzled looking Karkaroff waving off photographers.

The most concerning photo yet was one of Hermione herself, slipping out of the castle suspiciously. In all likelihood, it was from a night where she was slipping out to stay in Fleur's room after hours. But the headline accompanying it was _"Gifted But Troubled Granger Behind the Disasters at Triwizard Tournament?"_ Of course it was penned by Skeeter, who had ridiculously suggested that she was sneaking out in the evening to plant a horned serpent in the Black Lake.

Hermione snorted, "And where would I have stashed a horned serpent? Amongst my quills? In the Gryffindor Common Room?"

Fleur laughed darkly too, reading the article with Hermione. It ludicrously suggested that although Hermione had been toying with all the Champion's hearts, she was strategically using them to help Harry win.

"That's it!" Hermione said suddenly, and Fleur's head snapped to look at her, a baffled expression on her pretty features.

"You are in love wiz 'Arry?" she asked, more confused than ever.

"No," Hermione exclaimed, "But I was right with my hunch that Moody is fixing the competition. He is definitely trying to get Harry to win the tournament,"

"Mn, but why?"

"I don't know that yet… but whatever his reason, it isn't good. There is no way killing and horrifically injuring students indicates good intentions…"

Fleur glanced at a clock on her bedside table before athletically springing out of her bed and beginning to tie her hair in a ponytail.

"I wish I could 'elp you brainstorm, 'Ermione, but today I must return to Madame Maxime's training regime."

Hermione nodded absent-mindedly, her mind still whirring about the Moody mystery.

* * *

It was revealed that there was a week left until the final challenge. As such, Hermione got used to rarely seeing Fleur again. But it suited her well, as she borrowed Harry's Maurauder's Map and Invisibility Cloak to do some investigating. Her days were spent either hidden in the Restricted Section of the library or trailing around the castle doing some detective work.

So far, she had discovered that Moody had fooled the Marauder's Map in even more ways than they initially thought. Frequently, she had thought she had been safe from his prying magical eye as the only one near her on the map had been competition convenor Barty Crouch, only for Moody himself to emerge from behind a corner. In addition to appearing as someone else on the map, Moody's own marking never moved from his office.

Hermione had the nagging feeling that she was missing an obvious link here, but until she could find a window to search Moody's office more thoroughly, she was stumped.

As Fleur and Harry were busy training on their own all the time, and Ron's temper was incredibly unpredictable, Hermione was confiding her discoveries in Pansy. Pansy had surprisingly become a close friend since Hermione had let her stay at Fleur's, although she supposed they had been through a lot together throughout the year. Once, Pansy even defended Hermione against some Slytherin jibes, earning a shocked expression from her house cohorts.

Today Hermione was alone at the library when Pansy came and joined her at her table. "I've found the window," she said sharply with no introduction. Hermione snapped her head up from her book.

"When?"

"Moody is in charge of setting up the Final Task and supervising the maze while they compete."

"That doesn't leave us much time if something horrible is going to happen in the final task!" Hermione exclaimed, and Pansy nodded somberly.

"Since he caught Ana and I in his quarters," Pansy paled at the mention of Ana, "He has been extra _vigilant_ with guarding his spaces. I don't think it helps that the Prophet is chomping at the bit to find out what is going on."

Hermione nodded, biting her lip. "Well I guess we will just have to be as fast and thorough as we can, and make it back before the Champions enter the challenge."

* * *

The day of the final challenge came alarmingly fast and Hermione found herself sitting at the breakfast table at the crack of dawn, unable to eat. Fleur and Harry were sitting with her, already in their active-wear for the challenge later that morning.

"I'm feeling, I dunno, not confident… But I'm feeling okay about it," Harry said, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Hermione's heart ached. It was hard hiding the extent of her fears from her loved ones.

"Please be careful, both of you," Hermione said hoarsely. Fleur took her hand and squeezed it.

"Even if Monsieur Moody tries to fix ze competition, we will be okay," Fleur said soothingly, "At least we know zis time to expect ze unexpected!"

"Constant vigilance," Harry agreed with a boyish smirk.

The three of them sat together in an uneasy silence through the morning as their classmates began to wake and join the Great Hall for breakfast. Many approached Fleur and Harry to wish them luck.

Finally, Maxime filled the large doorway of the Great Hall, nodding at Fleur. Fleur and Harry got up quietly and left the Hall, Cedric and Krum not far behind them.

Hermione watched the back of Fleur's head as she disappeared through the doorway, a pit of dread in her stomach. She was interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind her. She turned and saw Pansy, reaching out a hand to help her up from her seat. She obliged and they left the Hall quickly and quietly.

They slipped through the hallways deep into Hogwarts in silence, clutching each other's hand with a white-knuckled fear of breaking into the violent Moody's office. The last time Hermione had done this, she had no idea of the extent Moody could go to.

They were just about at the hallway where Moody's office lay when a figure glided out in front of them, blocking the hallway.

"Hello Granger," Malfoy said with a sneer, before noting her holding hands with Pansy, "Watch out Pansy, you might catch the gay."

Pansy frowned, "Get out of our way, Draco," she said firmly to her friend. Malfoy folded his arms, refusing to let them past.

"What are you two doing here anyway?" He asked, his eyes narrowing with suspicion, "Granger's girlfriend and _Potty_ are about to start the final challenge… why are you two all the way over here? And _why_ are you holding hands?"

Hermione began to reach for her wand, unbridled annoyance at Malfoy taking over. Pansy stopped her.

"I'm gay, Draco," Pansy said calmly. Hermione looked at Pansy in surprise at the secretive girl finally coming out.

"You..?" Draco said, his eyes wide as he stared at Pansy before again looking at her hand holding Hermione's. His eyes narrowed again as he looked at Hermione.

"I am," Pansy said simply.

"Well, while I don't approve of _Granger,_ I'm hardly one to spoil your fun, Pansy," Malfoy said finally, "Just watch out for that Veela's temper if she gets wind of this."

With that he put a hand gently on Pansy's shoulder before nodding at her and disappearing past them to continue down the hall.

"Wow… I'm… I'm actually proud of you, Pansy," Hermione said slowly, looking at Pansy, before quickly adding, "Although I'm not _thrilled_ you implied we are sneaking off so I can cheat on Fleur with you."

"I knew he wouldn't ask any further questions," Pansy said simply, "And besides, you could do a lot worse than me!"

They both giggled despite the gravity of their situation, before continuing around the corner to stop in front of Moody's office. Pansy went to reach for the door handle when Hermione grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"Wait," Hermione said softly, before casting a quick scanning spell to reveal any curses or wards on the door. A few neon symbols appeared, revealing the spells locking the entry.

"Gods, where did you learn that?" Pansy said, obviously impressed.

"Fleur," Hermione shrugged, as she began to work out which counter spells to hit the door with.

"Damn, beauty _and_ brains…" Pansy said, letting out a low whistle of appreciation.

"If you're _quite done_ drooling over my girlfriend, we have to move quickly," Hermione said snappily, bringing Pansy back to reality. With timed precision, the two of them cast the appropriate counter spells, allowing the door to swing open.

The second they entered, a flurry of Sneak-O-Scopes began to wail, before Hermione turned quickly to them.

" _Gelida_ ," she muttered, and the Sneak-O-Scopes froze, effectively shut up. Pansy went over to search the desk while Hermione turned her attention immediately to the trunk in the middle of the room, edging closer with her wand at the ready.

 _"Alohomora,"_ she said carefully, and the trunk sprung open. She was walking slowly and carefully towards the open trunk, aware of a low moaning coming from it.

"Granger?" Pansy said, and Hermione paused to look at the Slytherin standing by Moody's desk, clutching an open flask.

"What is it?" Hermione said, noticing Pansy paling.

"Polyjuice potion," Pansy said.

Hermione turned back to the trunk, edging closer to the edge before looking into its depths and releasing a loud gasp of shock.

Fleur stretched with the other Champions as they waited for the last check of the maze to be completed. Her sapphire eyes scanned the crowd, a little alarmed that Hermione appeared to be running late.

Before she could voice her concern to Harry, Hagrid and Moody emerged from the entrance of the maze.

"All set!" Hagrid boomed happily, clapping his dustpan-like hands together. Moody nodded, his false eye spinning wildly in his skull.

Fleur and Harry exchanged suspicious looks. But surely the damage Moody could do would be limited by having Hagrid at his side. Although Fleur wasn't sure she was looking forward to another surprise like the horned serpent of the previous challenge.

Ludo Bagman placed his wand to his throat, projecting his voice out to the stands and announcing the countdown to the first challenge.

Fleur and Harry lined up, Fleur's eyes giving one last scan of the stands to search for Hermione. She couldn't see her.

 _"Three, two…. One…"_

There was a _bang_ and the crowd erupted into deafening cheers and applause. The champions all took off and entered the maze, fanning out into different directions. Fleur suddenly found herself alone, silence falling around her caused by the thick tall hedge walls.

She set off nimbly down her path, her wand at the ready and on high alert. She heard a rustle and paused.

The path ahead of her and behind her was clear.

With an unpleasant high pitched squeal, a furry brown creature the size of a human leapt out from the hedge at Fleur.

With her quick reflexes, Fleur easily dove and landed with a forward roll, turning to face the creature with her wand. Her nose crinkled in disgust as she realized it was a giant spider. She easily tossed a few spells at the spider to incapacitate it before relaxing and continuing on her way.

Fleur continued like this for some time in solitude, easily ducking and dodging creatures with her athleticism before incapacitating them. Every now and again she came across a mental challenge, like a serious Sphinx that asked her a riddle. But along the whole way she had not encountered a single other person.

She was beginning to wonder how long she had been inside the maze when she froze at the sound of movement. She was just about to arrive at a 'T' intersection where she would have to decide whether to go left or right. She waited, crouched carefully, as silence descended again.

Just as she was about to resume walking, Viktor abruptly rushed across from right to left through the 'T' intersection ahead of her. She jumped in shock, her heart feeling like it was in her throat before relaxing again. _Its okay,_ she said, trying to calm down, _It was just Viktor._

She moved carefully up to the intersection, opting to go right and continue her path of solitude rather than follow Viktor. But to her shock, as she rounded the corner, she walked right into Viktor.

Fleur gasped. "Merde! Viktor you scared me!" Fleur said, her voice laced with shock. How had Viktor even got back over there so fast?

Viktor looked at Fleur with a blank look. His face was set sternly and his grey eyes seemed more… silver. They were glinting in the early afternoon light. He did not respond to Fleur, nor did he move.

"Viktor…?" Fleur asked, confused.

With a sudden jerk, Viktor quickly drew his hands around Fleur's throat, squeezing.

Fleur thrashed in a panic. Viktor was strangling her, she couldn't breathe, her heart was pounding so fast it might burst out of her chest. With a belated realization, she clutched the wand in her hand and pointed it at Viktor, utilizing a wordless spell. Viktor flew away from her, relinquishing his grip, and hit a hedge wall further down the path, disappearing into the foliage.

Fleur gasped in the relief of fresh air, rubbing her throat as she doubled over trying to regain her breath. She straightened herself up again, staring warily at the spot in the hedge where Viktor had disappeared, before taking off quickly in the opposite direction. She ran as fast as she could down the winding tunnel of the maze, desperate to get away from Viktor should he come after her again.

To her horror, the path ended in a dead end. She stood, horrified, staring at the wall of hedge in front of her as she heard footsteps crunch behind her.

 _"Crucio,"_ uttered a Bulgarian accented voice.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Hello! Its been a long time coming, but here is the final chapter in this story! Hoping to have some more time to write other Fleurmione fics in the future :) Thanks to everyone who has reviewed or followed this story, its been fun writing it.**

* * *

Fleur struggled to catch her breath as she lay on her back, searing pain thankfully beginning to subside. It felt like simultaneously all of her bones were breaking, every inch of her skin was being burnt, every part of her body had an internal searing ache. She coughed and rolled over onto her stomach, noting that blood was dropping on the ground beneath her. She hurt so much all over it was hard to tell whether it was coming from her mouth, her nose, or somewhere else.

Gasping, Fleur pushed herself up painfully onto her elbows, then to her knees, and then began to stand up shakily.

 _"Crucio,"_ Viktor repeated in the same unfeeling voice.

The white hot pain clouded Fleur's vision again and she fell to the ground with a scream. Her mind begged for the relief of unconsciousness, but she felt it all, in excruciating awareness.

As the pain began to subside again, Fleur gasped in air again, her head spinning. She gritted her teeth hard as she began to shakily get up again.

"You still fight?" Viktor asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice. He lowered his wand momentarily as Fleur stood up, wiping blood from her face and straightening her back proudly. Viktor's eyes shimmered with that strange silver hue and he raised his wand again with a grin.

"I vas offering you the easy vay out," Viktor said menacingly, "But I guess ve can do it the hard vay,"

Fleur braced herself, wishing that her wand had not been tossed from her hand as she lurched in pain from the cruciatus curse.

 _"Stupefy!"_

There was a bright flash and the grin faded from Viktor's face. His eyes fell shut and he crumpled into a large heap on the ground. As he fell, he revealed the figure standing behind him, wand raised and chest heaving.

"'Ermione!" Fleur exclaimed with relief. Hermione immediately lowered her wand, leaping over Viktor's body to throw her arms around Fleur.

"Moody's not Moody," Hermione frantically hissed, drawing away from Fleur and looking around cautiously.

"What?!"

"We broke into his office… The real Moody is unconscious and tied up in his trunk… The Moody that has been tampering with the Tournament… I think he's a Death Eater, Fleur!"

"We need to get 'elp, 'Ermione… If zis is true-"

"—Then Harry is in danger," Hermione finished firmly, "Pansy is already telling Dumbledore, I just knew I had to get in here as soon as possible to make sure you and Harry were safe."

Fleur paused for a second, still in Hermione's arms, looking at the fire in the brave Gryffindor's eyes.

"Zen lets go and 'elp 'Arry, ma petit lionne," Fleur replied passionately. Hermione nodded and let go of Fleur, taking her hand before sending some bright sparks up into the sky.

"I am pretty convinced that he was under the Imperius curse," Hermione explained as they set off at a quick pace.

Fleur was about to reply when they rounded a corner and came face to face with a number of large rocks scuttling around on crab-like legs. They made hissing noises before climbing on top of each other to form a makeshift wall. Fleur looked at Hermione, baffled.

"Steinkrabbes," Hermione explained, before aiming her wand at them, " _Aguamenti!_ "

A jet of water surged from her wand, spraying the little rock creatures who promptly hissed and scurried into the hedges of the maze.

Fleur looked at Hermione, impressed by the intelligence of her girlfriend.

"They hate water," Hermione shrugged.

The couple ran through more twisting corners and obstacles, before reaching another dead end again. Fleur sighed with frustration.

"If only Ron was here," Hermione said helplessly, "He's so much better at puzzles like this."

Fleur took Hermione's hand and kissed her quickly.

"Do not speak like zat, 'Ermione," she said softly but firmly, "We can do zis."

Hermione smiled at Fleur tightly, squeezing her hand before they set off again.

To the girls' great relief, as they sprinted around a corner, they could see the blue-ish glow of the Triwizard Cup ahead of them. Harry could not be far away.

Hermione gasped as she saw Harry and Cedric emerge from a hedge corner near the cup, slowly walking towards it with hands outstretched.

"Harry!" Hermione bellowed, but before she could throw a spell to stop the two boys from reaching the Cup, she was interrupted by a raspy voice.

" _Crucio!"_

Hermione fell to the ground with a scream. Fleur whirled around to see Mad Eye Moody facing them, wand raised.

Mad Eye looked worse than normal. He was pale and sweating profusely, his hands noticeably shaking.

"Stay away from 'Arry!" Fleur barked, raising her wand.

"I don't think that will be a problem," Mad Eye cackled. Fleur looked over her shoulder. To her dismay, the Cup and the boys were gone. She turned back as Mad Eye continued to cackle.

To Fleur's horror, as Mad Eye continued to cackle, his voice became more shrill and constricted. His face began to bulge alarmingly and his glass eye began to protrude out of its socket. With sickening snapping noises, 'Mad Eye' morphed into a sunken looking thin man with greasy black short hair and long features.

"What 'ave you done to 'Arry and Cedric? 'Oo are you?" Fleur demanded, moving so she was standing more in front of Hermione, to protect her. Hermione was beginning to regain her regular breathing, the curse was wearing off and Fleur did not want her to get hit again.

"Barty Crouch…" the man said with a mock bow, "…Junior." He smiled in what appeared more like a grimace, baring long yellow teeth.

Hermione let out a small whimper as she began to clamber to her feet again and Crouch saw the momentary lapse in guard of both girls, quickly disarming them. He cackled again.

"As for Potter," he laughed, "He is being taken to the Dark Lord. Diggory? Who knows… We Death Eaters like to play to the death."

At that, he smirked, beginning to make the movements of the infamous Killing Curse.

 _"Stupefy!"_

Pansy emerged from a hedge corner, watching as Crouch collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Satisfied, she walked over to his crumpled body and gave it a hard kick in the ribs.

"I've been wanting to do that for a while," Pansy said with a smirk, looking up at Fleur and Hermione.

The girls ran up and pulled Pansy into a tight hug.

"Thank Merlin you came!" Hermione gasped, as they released the Slytherin. Fleur planted a kiss on Pansy's cheek which caused her to blush a dark red.

"W-well… I could hardly trust you two to take out this scum on your own," Pansy said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck.

The girls worked together to bind Crouch and levitate him out of the maze. No sooner had they reached the worried staff and students when there was a loud _crack_ behind them. The girls turned and looked in horror as a bloodied and grimy Harry fell to the ground over an unmoving body.

Harry looked up with a loud sob, his jet black hair in disarray across his forehead.

"Voldemort… he's back…"

* * *

The next few days passed in a blur.

Hogwarts was decorated in grim black decorations in honour of Cedric. Harry was alarmingly withdrawn. Ron spent most of his time trying to get the black-haired boy to get out of bed or talk up in their dormitory.

Hermione, in the meantime, was spending as much of her time as possible with Fleur.

With the tragic end of the Triwizard Tournament, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students were set to leave Hogwarts by the end of the week.

It didn't help that every time Hermione tried to go anywhere with Fleur, they were constantly followed by the wretched Skeeter. With Cedric dead and Harry withdrawn, Viktor and Fleur were the only targets for Skeeter's champion gossip.

"Did you see the body?" Skeeter asked, leaning towards Fleur with her acid-green quill scribbling wildly in the background.

Fleur looked angrily at Skeeter but Hermione put a hand on her girlfriend's arm to calm her.

"You know… I think I figured out how you were getting all this information when you didn't appear to be around," Hermione said coldly to Skeeter.

Rita Skeeter shot a glare at Hermione, "Unless you have an insight on Diggory's death, I don't want to hear it, sweetheart."

"Its funny how strict the Ministry are on animaguses having to register…" Hermione said casually, "Quite the hefty penalty they have for failure to comply…"

Skeeter paled and suddenly plucked her quill and parchment from the air, snapping them into a crocodile purse swiftly before turning on her heel, not saying another word.

"Want me to hex her for you?" Pansy offered, approaching the two girls. Fleur laughed.

"It seems 'Ermione 'as found alternative ways to keep 'er away from us," she beamed, kissing her girlfriend lightly on the temple. The three girls began to walk around the Hogwarts grounds, Hermione and Fleur hand in hand.

"What's new with you, anyway, Parkinson?" Hermione asked. The dark haired Slytherin smiled.

"I came out to the Slytherins today, actually," she smiled. They stopped walking and Hermione and Fleur gave Pansy a hug.

"Oh! Magnifique!" Fleur chirped, congratulating Pansy.

"I take it that it went well?" Hermione asked cautiously. Pansy nodded.

"Malfoy already seemed to know," she replied, "And while they tease me a little bit about girls now, they're actually really cool about it."

"Slytherins? Accepting?" Hermione said in mock shock. Pansy swatted her.

"Hey, you of all people know we aren't all bad now," Pansy laughed. Her smile faded a little bit as she looked at the couple seriously, "So what's going to happen with you two when Delacour goes back to France?"

Hermione and Fleur exchanged pained looks.

"We do not know," Fleur admitted, "I 'ave now finished schooling, but I do not know if I could get a job in Britain, or even if I would be able to see 'Ermione much if I did."

"So right now we're just focusing on the now." Hermione added, squeezing Fleur's hand.

* * *

On Friday, most of Hogwarts had lined up outside to farewell the exchange students. Even Harry was in attendance, although he was pale and withdrawn.

Viktor approached Harry and shook his head tightly, giving him a nod. Viktor hugged Fleur, apologizing for the hundredth time for attacking her while under the Imperius curse. Fleur waved him off, promising that it was fine and that they would still keep in touch.

Fleur moved to Harry next, embracing him tightly and kissing him on each cheek, whispering words of encouragement in his ear. He still looked shell-shocked, but the ghost of a smile crossed his face and he nodded.

Fleur turned to Pansy. "Of all ze people at zis school zat I would not expect to miss…" Fleur said with a smile. Pansy smirked back.

"Right back at ya, Delacour," she replied. Fleur hugged her and kissed her on each cheek, resulting in a predictable bright blush gracing Pansy's face.

"Look out for 'Ermione for me," Fleur said softly, and Pansy nodded.

Finally, Fleur turned to Hermione, a lump growing in her throat.

"J'taime," she murmured, pulling Hermione into a tight embrace.

"I love you too, Fleur," Hermione whispered fiercely into her ear, "I don't know what will come next for us, but I do know without a doubt that I have never been more grateful for a Potions Class pairing in my life."

Fleur smiled before kissing Hermione deeply, her tongue gliding lightly against Hermione's, in the way that she knew made the other girl's knees weak.

"We will be togezzer, 'Ermione," Fleur said with certainty, "Maybe not right away, but we will be togezzer again eventually."

With that, she turned and walked away before Hermione could see her tears. Hermione choked back a sob as she watched Fleur's long silver-blond mane flutter in the breeze as she rejoined the throng of Beauxbatons students filing into their carriage.

Despite the ache in her chest, she held on to Fleur's words and the certainty that she had spoken them with. It was true. They would be together eventually.


End file.
